ballast | adjective (a.) Any heavy substance, as stone, iron, etc., put into the hold to sink a vessel in the water to such a depth as to prevent capsizing. |
| adjective (a.) Any heavy matter put into the car of a balloon to give it steadiness. |
| adjective (a.) Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid. |
| adjective (a.) The larger solids, as broken stone or gravel, used in making concrete. |
| adjective (a.) Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security. |
| verb (v. t.) To steady, as a vessel, by putting heavy substances in the hold. |
| verb (v. t.) To fill in, as the bed of a railroad, with gravel, stone, etc., in order to make it firm and solid. |
| verb (v. t.) To keep steady; to steady, morally. |
blast | noun (n.) A violent gust of wind. |
| noun (n.) A forcible stream of air from an orifice, as from a bellows, the mouth, etc. Hence: The continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace; as, to melt so many tons of iron at a blast. |
| noun (n.) The exhaust steam from and engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast. |
| noun (n.) The sound made by blowing a wind instrument; strictly, the sound produces at one breath. |
| noun (n.) A sudden, pernicious effect, as if by a noxious wind, especially on animals and plants; a blight. |
| noun (n.) The act of rending, or attempting to rend, heavy masses of rock, earth, etc., by the explosion of gunpowder, dynamite, etc.; also, the charge used for this purpose. |
| noun (n.) A flatulent disease of sheep. |
| verb (v. t.) To injure, as by a noxious wind; to cause to wither; to stop or check the growth of, and prevent from fruit-bearing, by some pernicious influence; to blight; to shrivel. |
| verb (v. t.) Hence, to affect with some sudden violence, plague, calamity, or blighting influence, which destroys or causes to fail; to visit with a curse; to curse; to ruin; as, to blast pride, hopes, or character. |
| verb (v. t.) To confound by a loud blast or din. |
| verb (v. t.) To rend open by any explosive agent, as gunpowder, dynamite, etc.; to shatter; as, to blast rocks. |
| verb (v. i.) To be blighted or withered; as, the bud blasted in the blossom. |
| verb (v. i.) To blow; to blow on a trumpet. |
boast | noun (n.) Act of boasting; vaunting or bragging. |
| noun (n.) The cause of boasting; occasion of pride or exultation, -- sometimes of laudable pride or exultation. |
| verb (v. i.) To vaunt one's self; to brag; to say or tell things which are intended to give others a high opinion of one's self or of things belonging to one's self; as, to boast of one's exploits courage, descent, wealth. |
| verb (v. i.) To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult. |
| verb (v. t.) To display in ostentatious language; to speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol. |
| verb (v. t.) To display vaingloriously. |
| verb (v. t.) To possess or have; as, to boast a name. |
| verb (v. t.) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel. |
| verb (v. t.) To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required. |
breast | noun (n.) The fore part of the body, between the neck and the belly; the chest; as, the breast of a man or of a horse. |
| noun (n.) Either one of the protuberant glands, situated on the front of the chest or thorax in the female of man and of some other mammalia, in which milk is secreted for the nourishment of the young; a mamma; a teat. |
| noun (n.) Anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything; as, a chimney breast; a plow breast; the breast of a hill. |
| noun (n.) The face of a coal working. |
| noun (n.) The front of a furnace. |
| noun (n.) The seat of consciousness; the repository of thought and self-consciousness, or of secrets; the seat of the affections and passions; the heart. |
| noun (n.) The power of singing; a musical voice; -- so called, probably, from the connection of the voice with the lungs, which lie within the breast. |
| noun (n.) A torus. |
| verb (v. t.) To meet, with the breast; to struggle with or oppose manfully; as, to breast the storm or waves. |
cast | noun (n.) The act of casting or throwing; a throw. |
| noun (n.) The thing thrown. |
| noun (n.) The distance to which a thing is or can be thrown. |
| noun (n.) A throw of dice; hence, a chance or venture. |
| noun (n.) That which is throw out or off, shed, or ejected; as, the skin of an insect, the refuse from a hawk's stomach, the excrement of a earthworm. |
| noun (n.) The act of casting in a mold. |
| noun (n.) An impression or mold, taken from a thing or person; amold; a pattern. |
| noun (n.) That which is formed in a mild; esp. a reproduction or copy, as of a work of art, in bronze or plaster, etc.; a casting. |
| noun (n.) Form; appearence; mien; air; style; as, a peculiar cast of countenance. |
| noun (n.) A tendency to any color; a tinge; a shade. |
| noun (n.) A chance, opportunity, privilege, or advantage; specifically, an opportunity of riding; a lift. |
| noun (n.) The assignment of parts in a play to the actors. |
| noun (n.) A flight or a couple or set of hawks let go at one time from the hand. |
| noun (n.) A stoke, touch, or trick. |
| noun (n.) A motion or turn, as of the eye; direction; look; glance; squint. |
| noun (n.) A tube or funnel for conveying metal into a mold. |
| noun (n.) Four; that is, as many as are thrown into a vessel at once in counting herrings, etc; a warp. |
| noun (n.) Contrivance; plot, design. |
| verb (v. t.) To send or drive by force; to throw; to fling; to hurl; to impel. |
| verb (v. t.) To direct or turn, as the eyes. |
| verb (v. t.) To drop; to deposit; as, to cast a ballot. |
| verb (v. t.) To throw down, as in wrestling. |
| verb (v. t.) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart. |
| verb (v. t.) To throw off; to eject; to shed; to lose. |
| verb (v. t.) To bring forth prematurely; to slink. |
| verb (v. t.) To throw out or emit; to exhale. |
| verb (v. t.) To cause to fall; to shed; to reflect; to throw; as, to cast a ray upon a screen; to cast light upon a subject. |
| verb (v. t.) To impose; to bestow; to rest. |
| verb (v. t.) To dismiss; to discard; to cashier. |
| verb (v. t.) To compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast a horoscope. |
| verb (v. t.) To contrive; to plan. |
| verb (v. t.) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict; as, to be cast in damages. |
| verb (v. t.) To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide; as, a casting voice. |
| verb (v. t.) To form into a particular shape, by pouring liquid metal or other material into a mold; to fashion; to found; as, to cast bells, stoves, bullets. |
| verb (v. t.) To stereotype or electrotype. |
| verb (v. t.) To fix, distribute, or allot, as the parts of a play among actors; also to assign (an actor) for a part. |
| verb (v. i.) To throw, as a line in angling, esp, with a fly hook. |
| verb (v. i.) To turn the head of a vessel around from the wind in getting under weigh. |
| verb (v. i.) To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan; as, to cast about for reasons. |
| verb (v. i.) To calculate; to compute. |
| verb (v. i.) To receive form or shape in a mold. |
| verb (v. i.) To warp; to become twisted out of shape. |
| verb (v. i.) To vomit. |
| (imp. & p. p.) of Cast |
| () 3d pres. of Cast, for Casteth. |
contrast | noun (n.) The act of contrasting, or the state of being contrasted; comparison by contrariety of qualities. |
| noun (n.) Opposition or dissimilitude of things or qualities; unlikeness, esp. as shown by juxtaposition or comparison. |
| noun (n.) The opposition of varied forms, colors, etc., which by such juxtaposition more vividly express each other's peculiarities. |
| verb (v. i.) To stand in opposition; to exhibit difference, unlikeness, or opposition of qualities. |
| verb (v. t.) To set in opposition, or over against, in order to show the differences between, or the comparative excellences and defects of; to compare by difference or contrariety of qualities; as, to contrast the present with the past. |
| verb (v. t.) To give greater effect to, as to a figure or other object, by putting it in some relation of opposition to another figure or object. |
east | noun (n.) The point in the heavens where the sun is seen to rise at the equinox, or the corresponding point on the earth; that one of the four cardinal points of the compass which is in a direction at right angles to that of north and south, and which is toward the right hand of one who faces the north; the point directly opposite to the west. |
| noun (n.) The eastern parts of the earth; the regions or countries which lie east of Europe; the orient. In this indefinite sense, the word is applied to Asia Minor, Syria, Chaldea, Persia, India, China, etc.; as, the riches of the East; the diamonds and pearls of the East; the kings of the East. |
| noun (n.) Formerly, the part of the United States east of the Alleghany Mountains, esp. the Eastern, or New England, States; now, commonly, the whole region east of the Mississippi River, esp. that which is north of Maryland and the Ohio River; -- usually with the definite article; as, the commerce of the East is not independent of the agriculture of the West. |
| adjective (a.) Toward the rising sun; or toward the point where the sun rises when in the equinoctial; as, the east gate; the east border; the east side; the east wind is a wind that blows from the east. |
| adjective (a.) Designating, or situated in, that part of a church which contains the choir or chancel; as, the east front of a cathedral. |
| adverb (adv.) Eastward. |
| verb (v. i.) To move toward the east; to veer from the north or south toward the east; to orientate. |
fast | noun (n.) That which fastens or holds; especially, (Naut.) a mooring rope, hawser, or chain; -- called, according to its position, a bow, head, quarter, breast, or stern fast; also, a post on a pier around which hawsers are passed in mooring. |
| noun (n.) The shaft of a column, or trunk of pilaster. |
| adjective (a.) In a fast, fixed, or firmly established manner; fixedly; firmly; immovably. |
| adjective (a.) In a fast or rapid manner; quickly; swiftly; extravagantly; wildly; as, to run fast; to live fast. |
| adjective (a.) In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table, etc. |
| verb (v. i.) To abstain from food; to omit to take nourishment in whole or in part; to go hungry. |
| verb (v. i.) To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, or humiliation and penitence. |
| verb (v. i.) Abstinence from food; omission to take nourishment. |
| verb (v. i.) Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious humiliation. |
| verb (v. i.) A time of fasting, whether a day, week, or longer time; a period of abstinence from food or certain kinds of food; as, an annual fast. |
| verb (v.) Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the door. |
| verb (v.) Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong. |
| verb (v.) Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend. |
| verb (v.) Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors. |
| verb (v.) Tenacious; retentive. |
| verb (v.) Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound. |
| verb (v.) Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast horse. |
| verb (v.) Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint; reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a fast liver. |
feast | noun (n.) A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary. |
| noun (n.) A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food. |
| noun (n.) That which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight; something highly agreeable; entertainment. |
| noun (n.) To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions, particularly in large companies, and on public festivals. |
| noun (n.) To be highly gratified or delighted. |
| verb (v. t.) To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table bountifully; as, he was feasted by the king. |
| verb (v. t.) To delight; to gratify; as, to feast the soul. |