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ng ready; preparation; promptness; aptitude; willingness. They received the word with all readiness of mind. Acts xvii. 11.

Quality of being thready.

The quality or state of being unready.

in the use of the hands or in the exercise of the mental faculties; exhibiting skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts; as, an adroit mechanic, an adroit reply. "Adroit in the application of the telescope and quadrant." Horsley.…

The quality of being adroit; skill and readiness; dexterity. Adroitness was as requisite as courage. Motley.

The quality of being affable; readiness to converse; courteousness in receiving others and in conversation; complaisant behavior. Affability is of a wonderful efficacy or power in procuring love. Elyot

A cheerful readiness, willingness, or promptitude; joyous activity; briskness; sprightliness; as, the soldiers advanced with alacrity to meet the enemy. I have not that alacrity of spirit, Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have. Shak.

Readiness in learning; docility; aptness. He was a boy of remarkable aptitude. Macaulay.

Quickness of apprehension; readiness in learning; docility; as, an aptness to learn is more observable in some children than in others.

alone. -- To arms! a summons to war or battle. -- Under arms, armed and equipped and in readiness for battle, or for a military parade. Arm's end, Arm's length, Arm's reach. See under Arm.

the battery. -- In battery, projecting, as a gun, into an embrasure or over a parapet in readiness for firing. -- Masked battery, a battery artificially concealed until required to open upon the enemy. -- Out of battery, or From battery, withdrawn, as a gun, to a position for loading.

Without skill or grace; wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy; unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate; as, a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse. But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed, Hast shamefully d…

ly, a small, sheltered inlet, creek, or bay; a recess in the shore. Vessels which were in readiness for him within secret coves and nooks. Holland.

redit. -- Public credit. (a) The reputation of, or general confidence in, the ability or readiness of a government to fulfull its pecuniary engagements. (b) The ability and fidelity of merchants or others who owe largely in a community. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet. D. Webst…

Readiness of belief; a disposition to believe on slight evidence. That implict credulity is the mark of a feeble mind will not be disputed. Sir W. Hamilton.

Readiness to believe on slight evidence; credulity. Beyond all credulity is the credulousness of atheists. S. Clarke.

Fluency; readiness of utterance. [Obs.]

Readiness and grace in physical activity; skill and ease in using the hands; expertness in manual acts; as, dexterity with the chisel. In youth quick bearing and dexterity. Shak.

A mass of iron or lead hung from the yardarm, in readiness to be dropped on the deck of an enemy's vessel.

Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish. "Dull at classical learning." Thackeray. She is not bred so dull but she can learn. Shak.