Surmise – Swarthiness

Surmise

SURMISE, verb transitive surmi'ze. To suspect; to imagine without certain knowledge; to entertain thoughts that something does or will exist, but upon slight evidence.

It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew

That what before she but surmis'd, was true.

This change was not wrought by altering the form or position of the earth, as was surmised by a very learned man, but by dissolving it.

SURMI'SE, noun Suspicion; the thought or imagination that something may be, of which however there is no certain or strong evidence; as the surmises of jealousy or of envy.

We double honor gain

From his surmise prov'd false.

No man ought to be charged with principles he disowns, unless his practices contradict his professions; not upon small surmises.

Surmised

SURMI'SED, participle passive Suspected; imagined upon slight evidence.

Surmiser

SURMI'SER, noun One who surmises.

Surmising

SURMI'SING, participle present tense Suspecting; imagining upon slight evidence.

SURMI'SING, noun The act of suspecting; surmise; as evil surmisings. 1 Timothy 6:4.

Surmount

SURMOUNT', verb transitive

1. To rise above.

The mountains of Olympus, Atho and Atlas, surmount all winds and clouds.

2. To conquer; to overcome; as, to surmount difficulties or obstacles.

3. To surpass; to exceed.

What surmounts the reach

Of human sense--

Surmountable

SURMOUNT'ABLE, adjective That may be overcome; superable.

Surmounted

SURMOUNT'ED, participle passive Overcome; conquered; surpassed.

Surmounter

SURMOUNT'ER, noun One that surmounts.

Surmounting

SURMOUNT'ING, participle present tense Rising above; overcoming; surpassing.

Surmullet

SURMUL'LET, noun A fish of the genus Mullus, (M. barbatus, ) remarkable for the brilliancy of its colors, and for the changes which they undergo as the fish expires. The name is also applied to other species of the genus.

Surmulot

SUR'MULOT, noun A name given by Buffon to the brown or Norway rat.

Surname

SUR'NAME, noun [Latin super and nomen.]

1. An additional name; a name or appellation added to the baptismal or christian name, and which becomes a family name. Surnames, with us, originally designated occupation, estate, place of residence, or some particular thing or event that related to the person. Thus William Rufus or red; Edmund Ironsides; Robert Smith, or the smith; William Turner.

2. An appellation added to the original name.

My surname Coriolanus.

SURNA'ME, verb transitive To name or call by an appellation added to the original name.

Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Isaiah 44:5.

And Simon he surnamed Peter. Mark 3:16.

Surnamed

SURNA'MED, participle passive Called by a name added to the christian or original name.

Surnaming

SURNA'MING, participle present tense Naming by an appellation added to the original name.

Suroxyd

SUROX'YD, noun [sur and oxyd.] That which contains an addition of oxyd. [Little used.]

Suroxydate

SUROX'YDATE, verb transitive To form a suroxyd. [Little used.]

Surpass

SURP'ASS, verb transitive To exceed; to excel; to go beyond in any thing good or bad. Homer surpasses modern poets in sublimity. Pope surpasses most other poets in smoothness of versification. Achilles surpassed the other Greeks in strength and courage. Clodius surpassed all men in the profligacy of his life. Perhaps no man ever surpassed Washington in genuine patriotism and integrity of life.

Surpassable

SURP'ASSABLE, adjective That may be exceeded.

Surpassed

SURP'ASSED, participle passive Exceeded; excelled.

Surpassing

SURP'ASSING, participle present tense Exceeding; going beyond.

1. adjective Excellent in an eminent degree; exceeding others.

O thou, that with surpassing glory crown'd--

Surpassingly

SURP'ASSINGLY, adverb In a very excellent manner; or in a degree surpassing others.

Surplice

SURPLICE, noun sur'plis. [Latin super pellicium, above the robe of fur.]

A white garment worn by clergymen of some denominations over their other dress, in their ministrations. It is particularly the habit of the clergy of the church of England.

Surplice-Fees

SUR'PLICE-FEES, noun [surplice and fees.] Fees paid to the clergy for occasional duties.

Surpliced

SUR'PLICED, adjective Wearing a surplice.

Surplus

SUR'PLUS, noun [Latin id., more.]

1. Overplus; that which remains when use is satisfied; excess beyond what is prescribed or wanted. In the United States, the surplus of wheat and rye not required for consumption or exportation, is distilled.

2. In law, the residuum of an estate, after the debts and legacies are paid.

Surplusage

SURPLUS'AGE, noun Surplus; as surplusage of grain or goods beyond what is wanted.

1. In law, something in the pleadings or proceedings not necessary or relevant to the case, and which may be rejected.

2. In accounts, a greater disbursement than the charge of the accountant amounteth to.

Surprisal

SURPRISAL, noun surpri'zal. [See Surprise.] The act of surprising or coming upon suddenly and unexpectedly; or the state of being taken unawares.

Surprise

SURPRISE, verb transitive surpri'ze. [Latin super, supra, and prendo, to take.]

1. To come or fall upon suddenly and unexpectedly; to take unawares.

The castle of Macduff I will surprise

Who can speak

The mingled passions that surpris'd his heart?

2. To strike with wonder or astonishment by something sudden, unexpected or remarkable, either in conduct, words or story, or by the appearance of something unusual. Thus we are surprised at desperate acts of heroism, or at the narration of wonderful events, or at the sight of things of uncommon magnitude or curious structure.

3. To confuse; to throw the mind into disorder by something suddenly presented to the view or to the mind.

Up he starts, discover'd and surpris'd.

SURPRI'SE, noun The act of coming upon unawares, or of taking suddenly and without preparation. The fort was taken by surprise

1. The state of being taken unexpectedly.

2. An emotion excited by something happening suddenly and unexpectedly, as something novel told or presented to view. Nothing could exceed his surprise at the narration of these adventures. It expresses less than wonder and astonishment.

3. A dish with nothing in it. [Not in use.]

Surprised

SURPRI'SED, participle passive Come upon or taken unawares; struck with something novel or unexpected.

Surprising

SURPRI'SING, participle present tense Falling on or taking suddenly or unawares; striking with something novel; taking by a sudden or unexpected attack.

1. adjective Exciting surprise; extraordinary; of a nature to excite wonder and astonishment; as surprising bravery; surprising patience; a surprising escape from danger.

Surprisingly

SURPRI'SINGLY, adverb In a manner or degree that excites surprise. He exerted himself surprisingly to save the life of his companion.

Surquedry

SUR'QUEDRY, noun [See Heed.] Overweening pride; arrogance. [Not in use.]

Surrebut

SURREBUT', verb intransitive [sur and rebut.] In legal pleadings, to reply, as a plaintif, to a defendant's rebutter.

Surrebutter

SURREBUT'TER, noun The plaintif's reply in pleading to a defendant's rebutter.

Surrejoin

SURREJOIN', verb intransitive [sur and rejoin.] In legal pleadings, to reply, as a plaintif to a defendant's rejoinder.

Surrejoinder

SURREJOIN'DER, noun The answer of a plaintif to a defendant's rejoinder.

Surrender

SURREN'DER, verb transitive [Latin sursum, and rendre, to render.]

1. To yield to the power of another; to give or deliver up possession upon compulsion or demand; as, to surrender one's person to an enemy, or to commissioners of bankrupt; to surrender a fort or a ship. [To surrender up is not elegant.]

2. To yield; to give up; to resign in favor of another; as, to surrender a right or privilege; to surrender a place or an office.

3. To give up; to resign; as, to surrender the breath.

4. In law, to yield an estate, as a tenant, into the hands of the lord for such purposes as are expressed in the act.

5. To yield to any influence, passion or power; as, to surrender one's self to grief, to despair, to indolence or to sleep.

SURREN'DER, verb intransitive To yield; to give up one's self into the power of another. The enemy seeing no way of escape, surrendered at the first summons.

SURREN'DER, noun The act of yielding or resigning one's person or the possession of something, into the power of another; as the surrender of a castle to an enemy; the surrender of a right or of claims.

1. A yielding or giving up.

2. In law, the yielding of an estate by a tenant to the lord, for such purposes as are expressed by the tenant in the act.

Surrendered

SURREN'DERED, participle passive Yielded or delivered to the power of another; given up; resigned.

Surrenderee

SURRENDEREE', noun In law, a person to whom the lord grants surrendered land; the cestuy que use.

Surrendering

SURREN'DERING, participle present tense Yielding or giving up to the power of another; resigning.

Surrenderor

SURREN'DEROR, noun The tenant who surrenders an estate into the hands of his lord.

Till the admittance of cestuy que use, the lord takes notice of the surrenderor as his tenant.

Surrendry

SURREN'DRY, noun A surrender. [Surrender is the most elegant and best authorized.]

Surreption

SURREP'TION, noun [Latin surreptus, surrepo; sub and repo, to creep.]

A coming unperceived; a stealing upon insensibly. [Little used.]

Surreptitious

SURREPTI'TIOUS, adjective [Latin surreptitius, supra.] Done by stealth or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently; as a surreptitious passage in a manuscript.

A correct copy of the Dunciad, the many surreptitious ones have rendered necessary.

Surreptitiously

SURREPTI'TIOUSLY, adverb By stealth; without authority; fraudulently.

Surrogate

SUR'ROGATE, noun [Latin surrogatus, surrogo, subrogo; sub and rogo, to propose. Rogo, to ask or propose, signifies primarily to reach, put or thrust forward; and subrogo is to put or set in the place of another.] In a general sense, a deputy; a delegate; a substitute; particularly, the deputy of an ecclesiastical judge, most commonly of a bishop or his chancellor. In some of the United States, the judge of probate, of wills and testaments.

SUR'ROGATE, verb transitive To put in the place of another. [Little used.]

Surrogation

SURROGA'TION, noun The act of substituting one person in the place of another. [Little used.]

Surround

SURROUND', verb transitive [sur and round.]

1. To encompass; to environ; to inclose on all sides; as, to surround a city. They surrounded a body of the enemy.

2. To lie or be on all sides of; as, a wall or ditch surrounds the city.

Surrounded

SURROUND'ED, participle passive Encompassed; inclosed; beset.

Surrounding

SURROUND'ING, participle present tense Encompassing; inclosing; lying on all sides of.

Sursolid

SURSOL'ID, noun [sur and solid, or surdesolid.] In mathematics, the fifth power of a number; or the product of the fourth multiplication of a number considered as the root. Thus 3x3=9, the square of 3, and 9x3=27, the third power or cube, and 27x3=81, the fourth power, and 81x3=243, which is the sursolid of 3.

SURSOL'ID, adjective Denoting the fifth power.

Sursolid problem, is that which cannot be resolved but by curves of a higher kind than the conic sections.

Surtout

SURTOUT, noun A man's coat to be worn over his other garments.

Surturbrand

SUR'TURBRAND, noun Fibrous brown coal or bituminous wood; so called in Iceland.

Survene

SURVE'NE, verb transitive To supervene; to come as an addition; as a suppuration that survenes lethargies. [Little used.]

Survey

SURVEY, verb transitive [Latin video, videre.]

1. To inspect or take a view of; to view with attention, as from a high place; as, to stand on a hill, and survey the surrounding country. It denotes more particular and deliberate attention than look or see.

2. To view with a scrutinizing eye; to examine.

With such alter'd looks,

All pale and speechless, he survey'd me round.

3. To examine with reference to condition, situation and value; as, to survey a building to determine its value and exposure to loss by fire.

4. To measure, as land; or to ascertain the contents of land by lines and angles.

5. To examine or ascertain the position and distances of objects on the shore of the sea, the depth of water, nature of the bottom, and whatever may be necessary to facilitate the navigation of the waters and render the entrance into harbors, sounds and rivers easy and safe. Thus officers are employed to survey the coast and make charts of the same.

6. To examine and ascertain, as the boundaries and royalties of a manor, the tenure of the tenants, and the rent and value of the same.

7. To examine and ascertain, as the state of agriculture.

SUR'VEY, noun [formerly accented on the last syllable.]

1. An attentive view; a look or looking with care. He took a survey of the whole landscape.

Under his proud survey the city lies.

2. A particular view; an examination of all the parts or particulars of a thing, with a design to ascertain the condition, quantity or quality; as a survey of the stores, provisions or munitions of a ship. So also a survey of roads and bridges is made by proper officers; a survey of buildings is intended to ascertain their condition, value and exposure to fire. A survey of land includes mensuration and the ascertainment of quantity. A survey of a harbor, sound or coast comprehends an examination of the distance and bearing of points of land, isles, shoals, depth of water, course of channels, etc. A survey of agriculture includes a view of the state of property, buildings, fences, modes of cultivation, crops, gardens, orchards, woods, livestock, etc. And in general, survey denotes a particular view and examination of any thing.

3. In the United States, a district for the collection of the customs, under the inspection and authority of a particular officer.

Trigonometrical survey the measurement of an arc of the meridian by means of a series of triangles.

Surveyed

SURVEYED, participle passive Viewed with attention; examined; measured.

Surveying

SURVEYING, participle present tense Viewing with attention; examining particularly; measuring.

SURVEYING, noun That branch of mathematics which teaches the art of measuring land.

Surveyor

SURVEYOR, noun An overseer; one placed to superintend others.

1. One that views and examines for the purpose of ascertaining the condition, quantity, or quality of any thing; as a surveyor of land; a surveyor of highways; surveyors of ordnance. In the customs, a gauger; an officer who ascertains the contents of casks, and the quantity of liquors subject to duty; also in the United States, an officer who ascertains the weight and quantity of goods subject to duty.

Surveyor-General

SURVEYOR-GENERAL, noun A principal surveyor; as the surveyor-general of the king's manors, or of woods and parks in England. In the United Stats, the chief surveyor of lands; as the surveyor-general of the United States, or of a particular state.

Surveyorship

SURVEYORSHIP, noun The office of a surveyor.

Surview

SURVIEW', verb transitive To survey. [Not in use.]

SUR'VIEW, noun Survey. [Not in use.]

Survise

SURVI'SE, verb transitive To look over. [Not in use.]

Survival

SURVI'VAL, noun [See Survive.] A living beyond the life of another person, thing or event; an outliving.

Survivance

SURVI'VANCE, noun Survivorship. [Little used.]

Survive

SURVI'VE, verb transitive [Latin supervivo.]

1. To outlive; to live beyond the life of another; as, the wife survives her husband; or a husband survives his wife.

2. To outlive any thing else; to live beyond any event. Who would wish to survive the ruin of his country? Many men survive their usefulness or the regular exercise of their reason.

SURVI'VE, verb intransitive To remain alive.

Try pleasure,

Which when no other enemy survives,

Still conquers all the conquerors.

Survivency

SURVI'VENCY, noun A surviving; survivorship.

Surviver

SURVI'VER, noun One that outlives another. [See Survivor.]

Surviving

SURVI'VING, participle present tense Outliving; living beyond the life of another, or beyond the time of some event.

1. adjective Remaining alive; yet living; as surviving friends or relatives.

Survivor

SURVI'VOR, noun One who outlives another.

1. In law, the longer liver of two joint tenants, or of any two persons who have a joint interest in any thing.

Survivorship

SURVI'VORSHIP, noun The state of outliving another.

1. In law, the right of a joint tenant or other person who has a joint interest in an estate, to take the whole estate upon the death of the other. When there are more than two joint tenants, the whole estate remains to the last survivor by right of survivorship

Susceptibiility

SUSCEPTIBIIL'ITY, noun [from susceptible.] The quality of admitting or receiving either something additional, or some change, affection or passion; as the susceptibility of color in a body; susceptibility of culture or refinement; susceptibility of love or desire, or of impressions.

Susceptible

SUSCEP'TIBLE, adjective [Latin suscipio, to take; sub and capio.]

1. Capable of admitting any thing additional, or any change, affection or influence; as a body susceptible of color or of alteration; a body susceptible of pain; a heart susceptible of love or of impression.

2. Tender; capable of impression; impressible. The minds of children are more susceptible than those of persons more advanced in life.

3. Having nice sensibility; as a man of a susceptible heart.

Susceptibleness

SUSCEP'TIBLENESS, noun Susceptibility, which see.

Susception

SUSCEP'TION, noun The act of taking. [But little used.]

Susceptive

SUSCEP'TIVE, adjective Capable of admitting; readily admitting. Our natures are susceptive of errors.

Susceptivity

SUSCEPTIV'ITY, noun Capacity of admitting. [Little used.]

Susceptor

SUSCEP'TOR, noun [Latin] One who undertakes; a godfather.

Suscipiency

SUSCIP'IENCY, noun Reception; admission.

Suscipient

SUSCIP'IENT, adjective Receiving; admitting.

SUSCIP'IENT, noun One who takes or admits; one that receives.

Suscitate

SUS'CITATE, verb transitive [Latin suscito; sub and cito.] To rouse; to excite; to call into life and action.

Suscitation

SUSCITA'TION, noun The act of raising or exciting.

Suslik

SUS'LIK, noun A spotted animal of the rat kind. A quadruped of the genus Arctomys, of a yellowish brown color, with small white spots; the earless marmot.

Suspect

SUSPECT', verb transitive [Latin suspectus, suspicio; sub and specio, to see or view.]

1. To mistrust; to imagine or have a slight opinion that something exists, but without proof and often upon weak evidence or no evidence at all. We suspect not only from fear, jealousy or apprehension of evil, but in modern usage, we suspect things which give us no apprehension.

Nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.

From her hand I could suspect no ill.

2. To imagine to be guilty, but upon slight evidence or without proof. When a theft is committed, we are apt to suspect a person who is known to have been guilty of stealing; but we often suspect a person who is innocent of the crime.

3. To hold to be uncertain; to doubt; to mistrust; as, to suspect the truth of a story.

4. To hold to be doubtful. The veracity of a historian, and the impartiality of a judge, should not be suspected.

5. To conjecture.

SUSPECT', verb transitive To imagine guilt.

If I suspect without cause, why then let me be your jest.

SUSPECT', adjective Doubtful. [Not much used.]

SUSPECT', noun Suspicion.

Suspectable

SUSPECT'ABLE, adjective That may be suspected. [Little used.]

Suspected

SUSPECT'ED, participle passive Imagined without proof; mistrusted.

Suspectedly

SUSPECT'EDLY, adverb So as to excite suspicion; so as to be suspected.

Suspectedness

SUSPECT'EDNESS, noun State of being suspected or doubted.

Suspecter

SUSPECT'ER, noun One who suspects.

Suspectful

SUSPECT'FUL, adjective Apt to suspect or mistrust.

Suspecting

SUSPECT'ING, participle present tense Imagining without evidence; mistrusting upon slight grounds.

Suspectless

SUSPECT'LESS, adjective Not suspecting; having no suspicion.

1. Not suspected; not mistrusted.

Suspend

SUSPEND', verb transitive [Latin suspendo; sub and pendo, to hang.]

1. To hang; to attach to something above; as, to suspend a ball by a thread; to suspend the body by a cord or by hooks; a needle suspended by a loadstone.

2. To make to depend on. God hath suspended the promise of eternal life on the condition of faith and obedience.

3. To interrupt; to intermit; to cause to cease for a time.

The guard nor fights nor flies; their fate so near

At once suspends their courage and their fear.

4. To stay; to delay; to hinder from proceeding for a time.

SUSPEND your indignation against my brother.

I suspend their doom.

5. To hold in a state undermined; as, to suspend one's choice or opinion.

6. To debar from any privilege, from the execution of an office, or from the enjoyment of income.

Good men should not be suspended from the exercise of their ministry and deprived of their livelihood for ceremonies which are acknowledged indifferent.

7. To cause to cease for a time from operation or effect; as, to suspend the habeas corpus act.

Suspended

SUSPEND'ED, participle passive Hung up; made to depend on; caused to cease for a time; delayed; held undermined; prevented from executing an office or enjoying a right.

Suspender

SUSPEND'ER, noun One that suspends.

1. Suspenders, plural straps worn for holding up pantaloons, etc.; braces.

Suspending

SUSPEND'ING, participle present tense Hanging up; making to depend on; intermitting; causing to cease for a time; holding undermined; debarring from action or right.

Suspense

SUSPENSE, noun suspens'. [Latin suspensus.] A state of uncertainty; indetermination; indecision. A man's mind is in suspense when it is balancing the weight of different arguments or considerations, or when it is uncertain respecting facts unknown, or events not in his own power.

Ten days the prophet in suspense remain'd.

1. Stop; cessation for a time.

A cool suspense from pleasure or from pain.

2. In law, suspension; a temporary cessation of a man's right; as when the rent or other profits of land cease by unity of possession of land and rent.

SUSPENSE, adjective suspens'. Held from proceeding. [Little used.]

Suspensibility

SUSPENSIBIL'ITY, noun The capacity of being suspended or sustained from sinking; as the suspensibility of indurated clay in water.

Suspensible

SUSPENS'IBLE, adjective Capable of being suspended or held from sinking.

Suspension

SUSPEN'SION, noun [Latin suspensio. See Suspend.]

1. The act of hanging up, or of causing to hang by being attached to something above.

2. The act of making to depend on any thing for existence or taking place; as the suspension of payment on the performance of a condition.

3. The act of delaying; delay; as the suspension of a criminal's execution; called a respite or reprieve.

4. Act of withholding or balancing the judgment; forbearance of determination; as the suspension of opinion, of judgment, of decision or determination. suspension of judgment often proceeds from doubt of ignorance of facts.

5. Temporary cessation; interruption; intermission; as the suspension of labor or of study; the suspension of pain.

6. Temporary privation of powers, authority or rights; usually intended as a censure or punishment; as the suspension of an ecclesiastic or minister for some fault. This may be merely a suspension of his office, or it may be both of his office and his income. A military or naval officer's suspension takes place when he is arrested.

7. Prevention or interruption of operation; as the suspension of the habeas corpus act.

8. In rhetoric, a keeping of the bearer in doubt and in attentive expectation of what is to follow, or what is to be the inference or conclusion from the arguments or observations.

9. In Scot's law, a stay or postponement of execution of a sentence condemnatory, by means of letters of suspension granted on application to the lord ordinary.

10. In mechanics, points of suspension in a balance, are the points in the axis or beam where the weights are applied, or from which they are suspended.

11. In music, every sound of a chord to a given base, which is continued to another base, is a suspension

Suspension of arms, in war, a short truce or cessation of operations agreed on by the commanders of the contending parties, as for burying the dead, making proposals for surrender or for peace, etc.

Suspensive

SUSPENS'IVE, adjective Doubtful.

Suspensor

SUSPENS'OR, noun In anatomy, a bandage to suspend the scrotum.

Suspensory

SUSPENS'ORY, adjective That suspends; suspending; as a suspensory muscle.

SUSPENS'ORY, noun That which suspends or holds up; a truss.

Suspicable

SUS'PICABLE, adjective [Latin suspicor.] That may be suspected; liable to suspicion. [Not in use.]

Suspicion

SUSPI'CION, noun [Latin suspicio. See Suspect.] The act of suspecting; the imagination of the existence of something without proof, or upon very slight evidence, or upon no evidence at all. suspicion often proceeds from the apprehension of evil; it is the offspring or companion of jealousy.

Suspicions among thoughts, are like bats among birds; they ever fly by twilight.

Suspicious

SUSPI'CIOUS, adjective [Latin suspiciosus.] Inclined to suspect; apt to imagine without proof.

Nature itself, after it has done an injury, will ever be suspicious and no man can love the person he suspects.

1. Indicating suspicion or fear.

We have a suspicious fearful, constrained countenance.

2. Liable to suspicion; adapted to raise suspicion; giving reason to imagine ill; as an author of suspicious innovations.

I spy a black suspicious threat-ning cloud.

3. Entertaining suspicion; given to suspicion.

Many mischievous insects are daily at work to make men of merit suspicious of each other.

Suspiciously

SUSPI'CIOUSLY, adverb With suspicion.

1. So as to excite suspicion.

Suspiciousness

SUSPI'CIOUSNESS, noun The quality of being liable to suspicion, or liable to be suspected; as the suspiciousness of a man's appearance, of his weapons or of his actions.

1. The quality or state of being apt to suspect; as the suspiciousness of a man's temper or mind.

Suspiral

SUSPI'RAL, noun [Latin suspiro, to breathe; sub and spiro.]

1. A breathing hole; a vent or ventiduct.

2. A spring of water passing under ground towards a cistern or conduit. [Local.]

Suspiration

SUSPIRA'TION, noun [Latin suspiratio, suspiro, to sigh; sub and spiro, to breathe.] The act of sighing or fetching along and deep breath; a sigh.

Suspire

SUSPI'RE, verb intransitive [supra.] To sigh; to fetch along deep breath; to breathe. [Little used.]

Suspired

SUSPI'RED, participle passive or adjective Wished for; desired. [Not in use.]

Sustain

SUSTA'IN, verb transitive [Latin sustineo; sub and teneo, to hold under.]

1. To bear; to uphold; to support; as, a foundation sustains the superstructure; pillars sustain an edifice; a beast sustains a load.

2. To hold; to keep from falling; as, a rope sustains a weight.

3. To support; to keep from sinking in despondence. The hope of a better life sustains the afflicted amidst all their sorrows.

4. To maintain; to keep alive; to support; to subsist; as provisions to sustain a family or an army.

5. To support in any condition by aid; to assist or relieve.

His sons, who seek the tyrant to sustain

6. To bear; to endure without failing or yielding. The mind stands collected and sustains the shock.

Shall Turnus then such endless toil sustain?

7. To suffer; to bear; to undergo.

You shall sustain more new disgraces.

8. To maintain; to support; not to dismiss or abate. Notwithstanding the plea in bar or in abatement, the court sustained the action or suit.

9. To maintain as a sufficient ground. The testimony or the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the action, the accusation, the charges, or the impeachment.

10. In music, to continue, as the sound of notes through their whole length.

SUSTA'IN, noun That which upholds. [Not in use.]

Sustainable

SUSTA'INABLE, adjective That may be sustained or maintained. The action is not sustainable

Sustained

SUSTA'INED, participle passive Borne; upheld; maintained; supported; subsisted; suffered.

Sustainer

SUSTA'INER, noun He or that which sustains, upholds or suffers.

Sustaining

SUSTA'INING, participle present tense Bearing; upholding; maintaining; suffering; subsisting.

Sustaltic

SUSTAL'TIC, adjective [Gr.] Mournful; affecting; an epithet given to a species of music by the Greeks.

Sustenance

SUS'TENANCE, noun

1. Support; maintenance; subsistence; as the sustenance of the body; the sustenance of life.

2. That which supports life; food; victuals; provisions. This city has ample sustenance

Sustentacle

SUSTEN'TACLE, noun [Latin sustentaculum.] Support. [Not in use.]

Sustentation

SUSTENTA'TION, noun [Latin sustentatio, sustento.]

1. Support; preservation from falling.

2. Use of food.

3. Maintenance; support of life.

Susurration

SUSURRA'TION, noun [Latin susurratio; susurro, to whisper.]

A whispering; a soft murmur.

Sutile

SU'TILE, adjective [Latin sutilis, from suo, to sew.]

Done by stitching. [Not in use.]

Sutler

SUT'LER, noun A person who follows an army and sells to the troops provisions and liquors.

Sutling

SUT'LING, adjective Belonging to sutlers; engaged in the occupation of a sutler.

Suttee

SUTTEE', noun In the Sanscrit, or sacred language of the Hindoos, a female deity.

1. A widow who immolates herself on the funeral pile of her husband.

2. The sacrifice of burning a widow on the funeral pile of her husband.

Suttle

SUT'TLE, adjective suttle weight, in commerce, is when tret is allowed; neat weight.

Suture

SU'TURE, noun [Latin sutura, from suo, to sew.]

1. Literally, a sewing; hence, the uniting of the parts of a wound by stitching.

2. The seam or joint which unites the bones of the skull; or the peculiar articulation or connection of those bones; as the coronal suture; the sagittal suture

Suveran

SUV'ERAN, adjective [Latin supernus, superus, super. The barbarous Norman word souvereign, seems to be formed of Latin super and regnum; a strange blunder.]

1. Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a suveran prince. The Creator is the suveran ruler of the universe.

2. Supreme; chief; superior to all others.

3. Supremely efficacious; superior to all others; as a suveran remedy.

4. Supreme; pertaining to the first magistrate of a nation; as suveran authority.

SUV'ERAN, noun A supreme lord or ruler; one who possesses the highest authority without control. Some kings are suverans in their dominions; the authority of others is limited. The Creator is the suveran of all that he has made.

1. A supreme magistrate, lord or king.

O let my suv'ran turn away his face.

Suveranly

SUV'ERANLY, adverb Supremely; in the highest degree.

Suveranty

SUV'ERANTY, noun Supreme power; supremacy; the possession of uncontrollable power. Absolute suveranty belongs only to God.

Swab

SWAB, noun A mop for cleaning floors; on board of ships, a large mop or bunch or old rope yarn, used to clean the deck and cabin.

SWAB, verb transitive [supra.] To clean with mop; to wipe when wet or after washing; as, to swab the deck of a ship.

Swabber

SWAB'BER, noun One that uses a swab to clean a floor or deck; on board of ships of war, an inferior officer, whose business is to see that the ship is kept clean.

Swad

SWAD, noun A pod, as of beans or peas. [Local.]

1. A short fat person.

2. In New England, a lump, mass or bunch, also, a crowd. [Vulgar.]

Swaddle

SWAD'DLE, verb transitive

1. To swathe; to bind, as with a bandage; to bind tight with clothes; used generally of infants; as, to swaddle a child.

They swaddled me in my night-gown.

2. To bat; to cudgel. [Low and not in use.]

SWAD'DLE, noun Clothes bound tight around the body.

They put me in bed in all my swaddles.

Swaddled

SWAD'DLED, participle passive Swathed; bound in tight clothes.

Swaddling

SWAD'DLING, participle present tense Swathing; binding in tight clothes.

Swaddling-Band

SWAD'DLING-BAND

SWAD'DLING-CLOTH, noun A band or cloth wrapper round an infant. Luke 2:1.

Swaddling-Cloth

SWAD'DLING-CLOTH, n. A band or cloth wrapper round an infant. Luke 2.

Swag

SWAG, verb intransitive To sink down by its weight; to lean.

SWAG'-BELLIED, adjective Having a prominent overhanging belly.

Swage

SWAGE, verb transitive [probably allied to swag and weak; from falling or throwing down.] To ease; to soften; to mitigate.

Apt words have power to swage

The tumors of a troubled mind.

[See Assuage, which is the word now used.]

Swagger

SWAG'GER, verb intransitive To bluster; to bully; to boast or brag noisily; to be tumultuously proud.

What a pleasure it is to swagger at the bar.

To be great is not to swagger at our footmen.

Swaggerer

SWAG'GERER, noun A blusterer; a bully; a boastful noisy fellow.

Swaggering

SWAG'GERING, participle present tense Blustering; boasting noisily.

Swagging

SWAG'GING, participle present tense Sinking or inclining.

Swaggy

SWAG'GY, adjective [from swag.] Sinking, hanging or leaning by its weight.

Swain

SWAIN, noun

1. A young man.

2. A country servant employed in husbandry.

3. A pastoral youth. [It is used chiefly in this sense, and in poetry.]

Blest swains! whose nymphs in every grace excel.

Swainish

SWA'INISH, adjective Rustic.

Swainmote

SWA'INMOTE

SWAIRTH, noun An apparition. [Not used in New England.

Swairth

SWAIRTH, n. An apparition. [Not used in New England.

Swale

SWALE, noun [probably from vale.] A local word in New England, signifying an interval or vale; a tract of low land.

1. In England, a shade.

SWALE, verb intransitive To waste. [See Sweal.]

SWALE, verb transitive To dress a hog for bacon, by singeing or burning off his hair. [Local.]

Swallet

SWAL'LET, noun [See Well.] Among the tin miners, water breaking in upon the miners at their work.

Swallow

SWAL'LOW, noun A bird of the genus Hirundo, of many species, among which are the chimney swallow and the martin.

Swallow-Fish

SWAL'LOW-FISH, noun A sea fish of the genus Trigla, called in Cornwall, tub-fish; remarkable for the size of its gill-fins. It is called also the sapphirine gurnard.

Swallow-Fly

SWAL'LOW-FLY, noun The name of the chelidonius, a fly remarkable for its swift and long flight.

Swallow-Stone

SWAL'LOW-STONE, noun Chelidonius lapis, a stone which Pliny and other authors affirm to be found in the stomachs of young swallows.

Swallow-Tail

SWAL'LOW-TAIL, noun A plant, a species of willow.

Swallow-Wort

SWAL'LOW-WORT, noun A plant of the genus Asclepias; hirundinaria. It grows in the southern part of Europe, and is said to have been successfully used as a medicine, chiefly in dropsical cases.

The African swallow-wort is of the genus Stapelia.

SWAL'LOW, verb transitive

1. To take into the stomach; to receive through the gullet or oesophagus into the stomach; as, to swallow food or drink. Food should be well chewed before it is swallowed.

2. To absorb; to draw and sink into an abyss or gulf; to ingulf; usually followed by up. The Malstrom off the coast of Norway, it is said, will swallow up a ship.

In bogs swallow'd up and lost.

The earth opened and swallowed them up. Numbers 16:1.

3. To receive or embrace, as opinions or belief, without examination or scruple; to receive implicitly.

4. To engross; to appropriate.

Homer--has swallowed up the honor of those who succeeded him.

5. To occupy; to employ.

The necessary provision of life swallows the greatest part of their time.

6. To seize and waste.

Corruption swallow'd what the liberal hand

Of bounty scatter'd.

7. To engross; to engage completely.

The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine. Isaiah 28:1.

8. To exhaust; to consume. His expenses swallow up all his income.

SWAL'LOW, noun The gullet or oesophagus; the throat.

1. Voracity.

2. As much as is swallowed at once.

Swallowed

SWAL'LOWED, participle passive Taken into the stomach; absorbed; received without scruple; engrossed; wasted; exhausted.

Swallower

SWAL'LOWER, noun One who swallows; also, a glutton.

Swallowing

SWAL'LOWING, participle present tense Taking into the stomach; absorbing; ingulfing; receiving implicitly; engrossing; wasting; exhausting.

SWAL'LOWING, noun The act of taking into the stomach or of absorbing; the act of receiving implicitly; the act of engrossing.

Swallows-Tail

SWAL'LOW'S-TAIL, noun In joinery and carpentry, the same as dove-tail.

Swam

SWAM, preterit tense of swim.

Swamp

SWAMP, noun Spungy land; low ground filled with water; soft wet ground. In New England, I believe this word is never applied to marsh, or the boggy land made by the overflowing of salt water, but always to low soft ground in the interior country; wet and spungy land, but not usually covered with water. This is the true meaning of the word. Swamps are often mowed. In England, the word is explained in books by boggy land, morassy or marshy ground.

SWAMP, verb transitive To plunge, whelm or sink in a swamp; to plunge into difficulties inextricable.

Swamp-Ore

SWAMP-ORE, noun In mineralogy, an ore of iron found in swamps and morasses; called also bog-ore, or indurated bog iron ore. Its color is a dark yellowish brown or gray; its fracture is earthy, and it contains so much phosphoric acid as to injure its tenacity.

Swampy

SWAMP'Y, adjective Consisting of swamp; like a swamp; low, wet and spungy; as swampy land.

Swan

SWAN, noun A large aquatic fowl of the genus Anas, of two varieties, the wild and the tame. The plumage is of a pure white color, and its long arching neck gives it a noble appearance.

Swang

SWANG, noun A piece of low land or green sward, liable to be covered with water. [Local in England.]

Swanimote

SWAN'IMOTE, noun [swain and mote, meeting.] In England, a court held before the verderors of the forest as judges, by the steward of the court, thrice every year; the swains or freeholders within the forest composing the jury. Its principal jurisdiction is to inquire into the oppressions and grievances committed by the officers of the forest. It receives and tries also presentments certified from the court of attachments against offenses in vert and venison. This court is incident to a forest, as a court of piepoudre is to a fair.

Swansdown

SWANSDOWN, noun A fine soft thick woolen cloth.

Swanskin

SWAN'SKIN, noun [swan and skin.] A species of flannel of a soft texture, thick and warm.

Swap

SWAP, adverb Hastily; at a snatch. [A low word and local.]

SWAP, verb transitive To exchange; to barter; to swop. [See Swop.] [This word is not elegant, but common in colloquial language in America.]

Swape

SWAPE, noun A pole supported by a fulcrum on which it turns, used for raising water from a well, for churning, etc. [This Bailey spells swipe, and in noun England it is pronounced sweep, as in well-sweep.]

Sward

SWARD, noun

1. The skin of bacon. [Local.]

2. The grassy surface of land; turf; that part of the soil which is filled with the roots of grass, forming a kind of mat. When covered with green grass, it is called green sward

SWARD, verb transitive To produce sward; to cover with sward

SWARD'-CUTTER, noun An instrument for cutting sward across the ridges.

Swardy

SWARD'Y, adjective Covered with sward or grass; as swardy land.

Sware

SWARE, old preterit tense of swear. We now use swore.

SWARE

Swarm

SWARM, noun sworm. [Latin ferveo, and boiling is very expressive of the motions of a swarm of bees. See the Verb.]

1. In a general sense, a large number or body of small animals or insects, particularly when in motion; but appropriately, a great number of honey bees which emigrate from a hive at once, and seek new lodgings under the direction of a queen; or a like body of bees united and settled permanently in a hive. The bees that leave a hive in spring, are the young bees produced in the year preceding. Exodus 8:24. Judges 14:8.

2. A swarm or multitude; particularly, a multitude of people in motion. Swarms of northern nations overran the south of Europe in the fifth century.

Note.--The application of this word to inanimate things, as swarms of advantages, by Shakespeare, and swarms of themes, by Young, is not legitimate, for the essence of the word is motion.

SWARM, verb intransitive sworm.

1. To collect and depart from a hive by flight in a body, as bees. Bees swarm in warm, clear days in summer.

2. To appear or collect in a crowd; to run; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude.

In crowds around the swarming people join.

3. To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of animals in motion. The forests in America often swarm with wild pigeons. The northern seas in spring swarm with herrings.

Every place swarms with soldiers.

[Such phrases as 'life swarms with ills, ' 'those days swarmed with fables, ' are not legitimate, or wholly obsolete.

4. To breed multitudes.

5. To climb, as a tree, by embracing it with the arms and legs, and scrambling.

At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.

Note.--This, by the common people in New England, is pronounced squirm or squurm, and it is evidently formed on worm, indicating that worm and warm, on which swarm and squirm are formed, are radically the same word. The primary sense is to bend, wind, twist, as a worm, or a swarm of bees. It may be formed on the foot of veer, vary.

SWARM, verb transitive To crowd or throng. [Not in use.]

Swart

SWART, swort

Swarth

SWARTH, sworth, adjective

1. Being of a dark hue; moderately black; tawny.

A nation strange with visage swart.

[I believe swart and swarth are never used in the United States, certainly not in New England. Swarthy is a common word.]

2. Gloomy; malignant. [Not in use.]

SWART, verb transitive To make tawny.

SWARTH

Swarthily

SWARTH'ILY, adverb [from swarthy.] Duskily; with a tawny hue.

Swarthiness

SWARTH'INESS, noun Tawniness; a dusky or dark complexion.