(n.) A shift for evasion or delay; an evasion; an excuse.

(n.) Ground ivy (Nepeta Glechoma).

(n.) Trial; proof.

(n.) Approval; commendation.

(v. t.) To make a dwarf of; to stunt or hinder the growth of; to dwarf.

(n.) Originally, a person put in charge of something especially, a chief officer, magistrate, or keeper, as of a county, town, hundred, or castle; one to whom power/ of custody or care are intrusted.

(n.) A sheriff's deputy, appointed to make arrests, collect fines, summon juries, etc.

(n.) An overseer or under steward of an estate, who directs husbandry operations, collects rents, etc.

(a.) Restive.

(n.) A restive or stubborn horse.

(a.) Captive; wretched; unfortunate.

(a.) Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable.

(n.) A captive; a prisoner.

(n.) A wretched or unfortunate man.

(n.) A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness and wickedness meet.

(v. t.) To befoul with snuff.

(v. t.) To unroof.

(n.) The staff for holding a bunch of flax, tow, or wool, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand.

(n.) Used as a symbol of the holder of a distaff; hence, a woman; women, collectively.

(pron.) A reflexive form of the indefinite pronoun one. Commonly writen as two words, one's self.

(n.) A district comprising a hundred villages, as in Wales.

(n.) The lower reef of fore and aft sails; also, the upper reef of topsails.

(n.) That which is set off against another thing; an offset.

(n.) That which is used to improve the appearance of anything; a decoration; an ornament.

(n.) A counterclaim; a cross debt or demand; a distinct claim filed or set up by the defendant against the plaintiff's demand.

(n.) Same as Offset, n., 4.

(n.) See Offset, 7.

(v. t.) See Enfeoff.

(v. t.) To give a feud, or right in land, to; to invest with a fief or fee; to invest (any one) with a freehold estate by the process of feoffment.

(v. t.) To give in vassalage; to make subservient.

(v. t.) To graft; to fix deeply.

(n.) A machine, resembling a well sweep, used in Egypt for raising water from the Nile for irrigation.

(n.) That which cuts off or shortens, as a nearer passage or road.

(n.) The valve gearing or mechanism by which steam is cut off from entering the cylinder of a steam engine after a definite point in a stroke, so as to allow the remainder of the stroke to be made by the expansive force of the steam already let in. See Expansion gear, under Expansion.

(n.) Any device for stopping or changing a current, as of grain or water in a spout.

(n.) Alt. of Sherif

(n.) The chief officer of a shire or county, to whom is intrusted the execution of the laws, the serving of judicial writs and processes, and the preservation of the peace.

(a.) Remote; as, the far-off distance. Cf. Far-off, under Far, adv.

(pron.) Alt. of Hemselven

(pron.) An emphasized form of the third person feminine pronoun; -- used as a subject with she; as, she herself will bear the blame; also used alone in the predicate, either in the nominative or objective case; as, it is herself; she blames herself.

(pron.) Her own proper, true, or real character; hence, her right, or sane, mind; as, the woman was deranged, but she is now herself again; she has come to herself.

(pron.) An emphasized form of the personal pronoun of the second person; -- used as a subject commonly with thou; as, thou thyself shalt go; that is, thou shalt go, and no other. It is sometimes used, especially in the predicate, without thou, and in the nominative as well as in the objective case.

(pron.) An emphasized form of the third person masculine pronoun; -- used as a subject usually with he; as, he himself will bear the blame; used alone in the predicate, either in the nominative or objective case; as, it is himself who saved himself.

(pron.) One's true or real character; one's natural temper and disposition; the state of being in one's right or sane mind (after unconsciousness, passion, delirium, or abasement); as, the man has come to himself.

(pron. pl.) Alt. of Himselven

(n.) A high priest.

(n.) One of the sacred college, in ancient Rome, which had the supreme jurisdiction over all matters of religion, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus.

(n.) The chief priest.

(n.) The pope.

(n.) Ground ivy; alehoof.

(n.) Refutation; confutation; contradiction.

(n.) An expression of blame or censure; especially, blame expressed to the face; censure for a fault; chiding; reproach.

(n.) A breed of large dogs noted for strength and courage. There are various strains, differing in form and color, and characteristic of different countries.

(adv.) Of that or this.

(adv.) Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.

(adv.) Of what; -- used interrogatively.

(n.) See Diaphragm, n., 2.

(n.) The negative of self.

(n.) A device for letting off, releasing, or giving forth, as the warp from the cylinder of a loom.