affair | noun (n.) That which is done or is to be done; matter; concern; as, a difficult affair to manage; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; -- often in the plural. "At the head of affairs." Junius. |
| noun (n.) Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely; as, an affair of honor, i. e., a duel; an affair of love, i. e., an intrigue. |
| noun (n.) An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle. |
| noun (n.) Action; endeavor. |
| noun (n.) A material object (vaguely designated). |
air | noun (n.) The fluid which we breathe, and which surrounds the earth; the atmosphere. It is invisible, inodorous, insipid, transparent, compressible, elastic, and ponderable. |
| noun (n.) Symbolically: Something unsubstantial, light, or volatile. |
| noun (n.) A particular state of the atmosphere, as respects heat, cold, moisture, etc., or as affecting the sensations; as, a smoky air, a damp air, the morning air, etc. |
| noun (n.) Any aeriform body; a gas; as, oxygen was formerly called vital air. |
| noun (n.) Air in motion; a light breeze; a gentle wind. |
| noun (n.) Odoriferous or contaminated air. |
| noun (n.) That which surrounds and influences. |
| noun (n.) Utterance abroad; publicity; vent. |
| noun (n.) Intelligence; information. |
| noun (n.) A musical idea, or motive, rhythmically developed in consecutive single tones, so as to form a symmetrical and balanced whole, which may be sung by a single voice to the stanzas of a hymn or song, or even to plain prose, or played upon an instrument; a melody; a tune; an aria. |
| noun (n.) In harmonized chorals, psalmody, part songs, etc., the part which bears the tune or melody -- in modern harmony usually the upper part -- is sometimes called the air. |
| noun (n.) The peculiar look, appearance, and bearing of a person; mien; demeanor; as, the air of a youth; a heavy air; a lofty air. |
| noun (n.) Peculiar appearance; apparent character; semblance; manner; style. |
| noun (n.) An artificial or affected manner; show of pride or vanity; haughtiness; as, it is said of a person, he puts on airs. |
| noun (n.) The representation or reproduction of the effect of the atmospheric medium through which every object in nature is viewed. |
| noun (n.) Carriage; attitude; action; movement; as, the head of that portrait has a good air. |
| noun (n.) The artificial motion or carriage of a horse. |
| noun (n.) To expose to the air for the purpose of cooling, refreshing, or purifying; to ventilate; as, to air a room. |
| noun (n.) To expose for the sake of public notice; to display ostentatiously; as, to air one's opinion. |
| noun (n.) To expose to heat, for the purpose of expelling dampness, or of warming; as, to air linen; to air liquors. |
chair | noun (n.) A movable single seat with a back. |
| noun (n.) An official seat, as of a chief magistrate or a judge, but esp. that of a professor; hence, the office itself. |
| noun (n.) The presiding officer of an assembly; a chairman; as, to address the chair. |
| noun (n.) A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or two-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse; a gig. |
| noun (n.) An iron block used on railways to support the rails and secure them to the sleepers. |
| verb (v. t.) To place in a chair. |
| verb (v. t.) To carry publicly in a chair in triumph. |
fair | noun (n.) Fairness, beauty. |
| noun (n.) A fair woman; a sweetheart. |
| noun (n.) Good fortune; good luck. |
| noun (n.) A gathering of buyers and sellers, assembled at a particular place with their merchandise at a stated or regular season, or by special appointment, for trade. |
| noun (n.) A festival, and sale of fancy articles. erc., usually for some charitable object; as, a Grand Army fair. |
| noun (n.) A competitive exhibition of wares, farm products, etc., not primarily for purposes of sale; as, the Mechanics' fair; an agricultural fair. |
| superlative (superl.) Free from spots, specks, dirt, or imperfection; unblemished; clean; pure. |
| superlative (superl.) Pleasing to the eye; handsome; beautiful. |
| superlative (superl.) Without a dark hue; light; clear; as, a fair skin. |
| superlative (superl.) Not overcast; cloudless; clear; pleasant; propitious; favorable; -- said of the sky, weather, or wind, etc.; as, a fair sky; a fair day. |
| superlative (superl.) Free from obstacles or hindrances; unobstructed; unincumbered; open; direct; -- said of a road, passage, etc.; as, a fair mark; in fair sight; a fair view. |
| superlative (superl.) Without sudden change of direction or curvature; smooth; fowing; -- said of the figure of a vessel, and of surfaces, water lines, and other lines. |
| superlative (superl.) Characterized by frankness, honesty, impartiality, or candor; open; upright; free from suspicion or bias; equitable; just; -- said of persons, character, or conduct; as, a fair man; fair dealing; a fair statement. |
| superlative (superl.) Pleasing; favorable; inspiring hope and confidence; -- said of words, promises, etc. |
| superlative (superl.) Distinct; legible; as, fair handwriting. |
| superlative (superl.) Free from any marked characteristic; average; middling; as, a fair specimen. |
| adverb (adv.) Clearly; openly; frankly; civilly; honestly; favorably; auspiciously; agreeably. |
| verb (v. t.) To make fair or beautiful. |
| verb (v. t.) To make smooth and flowing, as a vessel's lines. |
hair | noun (n.) The collection or mass of filaments growing from the skin of an animal, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole of the body. |
| noun (n.) One the above-mentioned filaments, consisting, in invertebrate animals, of a long, tubular part which is free and flexible, and a bulbous root imbedded in the skin. |
| noun (n.) Hair (human or animal) used for various purposes; as, hair for stuffing cushions. |
| noun (n.) A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth. |
| noun (n.) An outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated. Internal hairs occur in the flower stalk of the yellow frog lily (Nuphar). |
| noun (n.) A spring device used in a hair-trigger firearm. |
| noun (n.) A haircloth. |
| noun (n.) Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth. |
pair | noun (n.) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set; as, a pair or flight of stairs. "A pair of beads." Chaucer. Beau. & Fl. "Four pair of stairs." Macaulay. [Now mostly or quite disused, except as to stairs.] |
| noun (n.) Two things of a kind, similar in form, suited to each other, and intended to be used together; as, a pair of gloves or stockings; a pair of shoes. |
| noun (n.) Two of a sort; a span; a yoke; a couple; a brace; as, a pair of horses; a pair of oxen. |
| noun (n.) A married couple; a man and wife. |
| noun (n.) A single thing, composed of two pieces fitted to each other and used together; as, a pair of scissors; a pair of tongs; a pair of bellows. |
| noun (n.) Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time; as, there were two pairs on the final vote. |
| noun (n.) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion. |
| verb (v. i.) To be joined in paris; to couple; to mate, as for breeding. |
| verb (v. i.) To suit; to fit, as a counterpart. |
| verb (v. i.) Same as To pair off. See phrase below. |
| verb (v. t.) To unite in couples; to form a pair of; to bring together, as things which belong together, or which complement, or are adapted to one another. |
| verb (v. t.) To engage (one's self) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions. |
| verb (v. t.) To impair. |
| () A union of two conductors, as bars or wires of dissimilar metals joined at their extremities, for producing a thermoelectric current. |
repair | noun (n.) The act of repairing or resorting to a place. |
| noun (n.) Place to which one repairs; a haunt; a resort. |
| noun (n.) Restoration to a sound or good state after decay, waste, injury, or partial restruction; supply of loss; reparation; as, materials are collected for the repair of a church or of a city. |
| noun (n.) Condition with respect to soundness, perfectness, etc.; as, a house in good, or bad, repair; the book is out of repair. |
| verb (v. i.) To return. |
| verb (v. i.) To go; to betake one's self; to resort; ass, to repair to sanctuary for safety. |
| verb (v. t.) To restore to a sound or good state after decay, injury, dilapidation, or partial destruction; to renew; to restore; to mend; as, to repair a house, a road, a shoe, or a ship; to repair a shattered fortune. |
| verb (v. t.) To make amends for, as for an injury, by an equivalent; to indemnify for; as, to repair a loss or damage. |
balance | noun (n.) An apparatus for weighing. |
| noun (n.) Act of weighing mentally; comparison; estimate. |
| noun (n.) Equipoise between the weights in opposite scales. |
| noun (n.) The state of being in equipoise; equilibrium; even adjustment; steadiness. |
| noun (n.) An equality between the sums total of the two sides of an account; as, to bring one's accounts to a balance; -- also, the excess on either side; as, the balance of an account. |
| noun (n.) A balance wheel, as of a watch, or clock. See Balance wheel (in the Vocabulary). |
| noun (n.) The constellation Libra. |
| noun (n.) The seventh sign in the Zodiac, called Libra, which the sun enters at the equinox in September. |
| noun (n.) A movement in dancing. See Balance, v. i., S. |
| noun (n.) To bring to an equipoise, as the scales of a balance by adjusting the weights; to weigh in a balance. |
| noun (n.) To support on a narrow base, so as to keep from falling; as, to balance a plate on the end of a cane; to balance one's self on a tight rope. |
| noun (n.) To equal in number, weight, force, or proportion; to counterpoise, counterbalance, counteract, or neutralize. |
| noun (n.) To compare in relative force, importance, value, etc.; to estimate. |
| noun (n.) To settle and adjust, as an account; to make two accounts equal by paying the difference between them. |
| noun (n.) To make the sums of the debits and credits of an account equal; -- said of an item; as, this payment, or credit, balances the account. |
| noun (n.) To arrange accounts in such a way that the sum total of the debits is equal to the sum total of the credits; as, to balance a set of books. |
| noun (n.) To move toward, and then back from, reciprocally; as, to balance partners. |
| noun (n.) To contract, as a sail, into a narrower compass; as, to balance the boom mainsail. |
| verb (v. i.) To have equal weight on each side; to be in equipoise; as, the scales balance. |
| verb (v. i.) To fluctuate between motives which appear of equal force; to waver; to hesitate. |
| verb (v. i.) To move toward a person or couple, and then back. |
bald | adjective (a.) Destitute of the natural or common covering on the head or top, as of hair, feathers, foliage, trees, etc.; as, a bald head; a bald oak. |
| adjective (a.) Destitute of ornament; unadorned; bare; literal. |
| adjective (a.) Undisguised. |
| adjective (a.) Destitute of dignity or value; paltry; mean. |
| adjective (a.) Destitute of a beard or awn; as, bald wheat. |
| adjective (a.) Destitute of the natural covering. |
| adjective (a.) Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced. |
bale | noun (n.) A bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation; also, a bundle of straw / hay, etc., put up compactly for transportation. |
| noun (n.) Misery; calamity; misfortune; sorrow. |
| noun (n.) Evil; an evil, pernicious influence; something causing great injury. |
| verb (v. t.) To make up in a bale. |
| verb (v. t.) See Bail, v. t., to lade. |
ball | noun (n.) Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow. |
| noun (n.) A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc. |
| noun (n.) A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football. |
| noun (n.) Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifle ball; -- often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets. |
| noun (n.) A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball. |
| noun (n.) A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; -- formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller. |
| noun (n.) A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot. |
| noun (n.) A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus. |
| noun (n.) The globe or earth. |
| noun (n.) A social assembly for the purpose of dancing. |
| noun (n.) A pitched ball, not struck at by the batsman, which fails to pass over the home base at a height not greater than the batsman's shoulder nor less than his knee. |
| verb (v. i.) To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls; as, the horse balls; the snow balls. |
| verb (v. t.) To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling. |
| verb (v. t.) To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton. |