Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 309 results in 309 entries
1. abroad, adv., prep., and n. View full entry c1300
...Over a broad or wide area; widely, broadly; †so as to be fully open or outspread (obs.). In later use more commonly with reference to non-physical things, as news, information,...
2. angel, n. View full entry c950
...A ministering spirit or divine messenger; one of an order of spiritual beings superior to man in power and intelligence, who, according to the Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and other theologies, are the...
3. arm, v.1 View full entry 1250
...lit. To furnish with arms defensive or offensive. In early use: (chiefly) to cover (a man or horse) with armour or mail. Later: to provide (a man, garrison, stronghold, ship, etc.)...
4. array, v. View full entry 1297
...To set or place in order of readiness, to marshall. esp. To draw up prepared for battle, and in obs. phr. to array a battle....
5. ash, n.2 View full entry c950
...The powdery residue, composed chiefly of earthy or mineral particles, left after the combustion of any substance....
6. audit, n. View full entry 1435-6
...gen. A hearing, an audience; esp. a judicial hearing of complaints, a judicial examination. arch....
7. baby, n. and adj. View full entry c1400
...A very young child, esp. one not yet able to walk and dependent on the care of others; an infant. Also applied to an unborn child. Formerly also: †a child...
8. back, adv. View full entry c1300
...lit. In the direction of one's back, or the back of any object in question; toward the rear; away from a forward position. Often with the vb. (go, ...
9. baconize, v. View full entry 1799
...To make into bacon; to smoke. lit. and fig....
10. bag, n. View full entry ?c1225
...A receptacle made of some flexible material closed in on all sides except at the top (where also it generally can be closed); a pouch, a small sack....
11. basis, n. View full entry ?a1560
...gen. The bottom of anything, considered as the part on which it rests or is supported; the foundation, base, foot. arch....
12. bath, n.1 View full entry 864
...The action of bathing or immersing the body, or a part of it, in water or other liquid. (Used playfully of accidental or involuntary immersion.)...
13. beat, v.1 View full entry c885
...trans. To strike with repeated blows. to beat the breast: i.e. in sign of sorrow....
14. belay, v. View full entry c893
...trans. To lay (a thing) about with other objects (i.e. by putting them about or around it); to surround, environ, invest, enclose, etc. with. ...
15. bind, v. View full entry 971
...trans. To make fast with a tie; to fasten, tie up....
16. bitter, adj. and n.1 View full entry 971
...One of the elementary sensations of taste proper (i.e. without any element arising through the nerves of touch): obnoxious, irritating, or unfavourably stimulating to the gustatory nerve; disagreeable to the palate; having...
17. black, adj. and n. View full entry eOE
...Designating the darkest colour possible, that of soot, coal, the sky on a moonless night in open country, and a small hole in a hollow object; of or having this colour; (also)...
18. blood, n. (and int.) View full entry eOE
...The red fluid flowing in the arteries, capillaries, and veins of humans and other vertebrates, carrying oxygen and nutrients to, and carbon dioxide and waste metabolites away from, the organs and tissues...
19. blow, v.1 View full entry c1000
...intr. The proper verb naming the motion or action of the wind, or of an aerial current. Sometimes with subject it, as ‘it blows hard’, and often with complement,...
20. board, n. View full entry c897
...A piece of timber sawn thin, and having considerable extent of surface; usually a rectangular piece of much greater length than breadth; a thin plank. Rarely used without the article, as in...
