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Striving against; opposed in desire; unwilling; disinclined; loth. Reluctant, but in vain. Milton. Reluctant now I touched the trembling string. Tickell.

In a reluctant manner.

Having a repugnance or opposition of mind; disliking; disinclined; unwilling; reluctant. Averse alike to flatter, or offend. Pope. Men who were averse to the life of camps. Macaulay. Pass by securely as men averse from war. Micah ii. 8.

Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath. For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. Pope.

Reluctantly; slowly; aversely. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.

cover money due on a contract, or damages for a tort, which can not be enforced against a reluctant party without suit. -- Chose in possession, a thing in possession, as distinguished from a thing in action. -- Chose local, a thing annexed to a place, as a mill. -- Chose transitory, a thing which is movable. Cowell.…

If the act were otherwise circumstantiated, it might will that freely which now it wills reluctantly. Bramhall.

e, in a fit and proper manner grace fully; graciously. -- With a bad grace, in a forced, reluctant, or perfunctory manner; ungraciously. What might have been done with a good grace would at least be done with a bad grace. Macaulay.

irection of the fibers; hence, against one's wishes or tastes; unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly; with difficulty. Swift.Saintsbury.-- A grain of allowance, a slight indulgence or latitude a small allowance. -- Grain binder, an attachment to a harvester for binding the grain into sheaves. -- Grain colors, dyes m…

ous or envious; to show discontent; to murmur; to complain; to repine; to be unwilling or reluctant. Grudge not one against another. James v. 9. He eats his meat without grudging. Shak.

haucer. Easier both to freight, and to hale ashore. Milton. As some dark priest hales the reluctant victim. Shelley.

on. To hang around, to loiter idly about. -- To hang back, to hesitate; to falter; to be reluctant. "If any one among you hangs back." Jowett (Thucyd.). -- To hang by the eyelids. (a) To hang by a very slight hold or tenure. (b) To be in an unfinished condition; to be left incomplete. -- To hang in doubt, to be in s…

To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner. [Poetic & R.] Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike. Pope.

Not proceeding from choice; done unwillingly; reluctant; compulsory; as, involuntary submission.

To delay; to loiter; to remain or wait long; to be slow or reluctant in parting or moving; to be slow in deciding; to be in suspense; to hesitate. Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind. Gray. Perhaps thou linger'st, in deep thoughts detained. Milton.

Filled with disgust or aversion; averse; unwilling; reluctant; as, loath to part. Full loth were him to curse for his tithes. Chaucer . Why, then, though loath, yet must I be content. Shak.

Unwillingly; reluctantly. This shows that you from nature loathly stray. Donne.

Prepared in mind or disposition; not reluctant; willing; free; inclined; disposed. I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts xxi. 13. If need be, I am ready to forego And quit. Milton.

The state or quality of being reluctant; repugnance; aversion of mind; unwillingness; -- often followed by an infinitive, or by to and a noun, formerly sometimes by against. "Tempering the severity of his looks with a reluctance to the action." Dryden. He had some reluctance to obey the summons. Sir W. Scott. Bear witn…

To be reluctant or to hesitate, as regards an action, on account of considerations of conscience or expedience. We are often over-precise, scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may. Fuller. Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. South.