| check | noun (n.) A word of warning denoting that the king is in danger; such a menace of a player's king by an adversary's move as would, if it were any other piece, expose it to immediate capture. A king so menaced is said to be in check, and must be made safe at the next move. |
| | noun (n.) A condition of interrupted or impeded progress; arrest; stop; delay; as, to hold an enemy in check. |
| | noun (n.) Whatever arrests progress, or limits action; an obstacle, guard, restraint, or rebuff. |
| | noun (n.) A mark, certificate, or token, by which, errors may be prevented, or a thing or person may be identified; as, checks placed against items in an account; a check given for baggage; a return check on a railroad. |
| | noun (n.) A written order directing a bank or banker to pay money as therein stated. See Bank check, below. |
| | noun (n.) A woven or painted design in squares resembling the patten of a checkerboard; one of the squares of such a design; also, cloth having such a figure. |
| | noun (n.) The forsaking by a hawk of its proper game to follow other birds. |
| | noun (n.) Small chick or crack. |
| | adjective (a.) Checkered; designed in checks. |
| | verb (v. t.) To make a move which puts an adversary's piece, esp. his king, in check; to put in check. |
| | verb (v. t.) To put a sudden restraint upon; to stop temporarily; to hinder; to repress; to curb. |
| | verb (v. t.) To verify, to guard, to make secure, by means of a mark, token, or other check; to distinguish by a check; to put a mark against (an item) after comparing with an original or a counterpart in order to secure accuracy; as, to check an account; to check baggage. |
| | verb (v. t.) To chide, rebuke, or reprove. |
| | verb (v. t.) To slack or ease off, as a brace which is too stiffly extended. |
| | verb (v. t.) To make checks or chinks in; to cause to crack; as, the sun checks timber. |
| | verb (v. i.) To make a stop; to pause; -- with at. |
| | verb (v. i.) To clash or interfere. |
| | verb (v. i.) To act as a curb or restraint. |
| | verb (v. i.) To crack or gape open, as wood in drying; or to crack in small checks, as varnish, paint, etc. |
| | verb (v. i.) To turn, when in pursuit of proper game, and fly after other birds. |
| neck | noun (n.) The part of an animal which connects the head and the trunk, and which, in man and many other animals, is more slender than the trunk. |
| | noun (n.) Any part of an inanimate object corresponding to or resembling the neck of an animal |
| | noun (n.) The long slender part of a vessel, as a retort, or of a fruit, as a gourd. |
| | noun (n.) A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts. |
| | noun (n.) That part of a violin, guitar, or similar instrument, which extends from the head to the body, and on which is the finger board or fret board. |
| | noun (n.) A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it; as, a neck forming the journal of a shaft. |
| | noun (n.) the point where the base of the stem of a plant arises from the root. |
| | verb (v. t.) To reduce the diameter of (an object) near its end, by making a groove around it; -- used with down; as, to neck down a shaft. |
| | verb (v. t. & i.) To kiss and caress amorously. |
| peck | noun (n.) The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as, a peck of wheat. |
| | noun (n.) A great deal; a large or excessive quantity. |
| | noun (n.) A quick, sharp stroke, as with the beak of a bird or a pointed instrument. |
| | verb (v.) To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into; as, a bird pecks a tree. |
| | verb (v.) Hence: To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument; especially, to strike, pick, etc., with repeated quick movements. |
| | verb (v.) To seize and pick up with the beak, or as with the beak; to bite; to eat; -- often with up. |
| | verb (v.) To make, by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument; as, to peck a hole in a tree. |
| | verb (v. i.) To make strokes with the beak, or with a pointed instrument. |
| | verb (v. i.) To pick up food with the beak; hence, to eat. |
| wreck | noun (v. t. & n.) See 2d & 3d Wreak. |
| | verb (v. t.) The destruction or injury of a vessel by being cast on shore, or on rocks, or by being disabled or sunk by the force of winds or waves; shipwreck. |
| | verb (v. t.) Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence; ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train. |
| | verb (v. t.) The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by violence and fracture; as, they burned the wreck. |
| | verb (v. t.) The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured. |
| | verb (v. t.) Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon the land by the sea. |
| | verb (v. t.) To destroy, disable, or seriously damage, as a vessel, by driving it against the shore or on rocks, by causing it to become unseaworthy, to founder, or the like; to shipwreck. |
| | verb (v. t.) To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to destroy, as a railroad train. |
| | verb (v. t.) To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on. |
| | verb (v. i.) To suffer wreck or ruin. |
| | verb (v. i.) To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or in plundering. |
| back | noun (n.) A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc. |
| | noun (n.) A ferryboat. See Bac, 1. |
| | noun (n.) In human beings, the hinder part of the body, extending from the neck to the end of the spine; in other animals, that part of the body which corresponds most nearly to such part of a human being; as, the back of a horse, fish, or lobster. |
| | noun (n.) An extended upper part, as of a mountain or ridge. |
| | noun (n.) The outward or upper part of a thing, as opposed to the inner or lower part; as, the back of the hand, the back of the foot, the back of a hand rail. |
| | noun (n.) The part opposed to the front; the hinder or rear part of a thing; as, the back of a book; the back of an army; the back of a chimney. |
| | noun (n.) The part opposite to, or most remote from, that which fronts the speaker or actor; or the part out of sight, or not generally seen; as, the back of an island, of a hill, or of a village. |
| | noun (n.) The part of a cutting tool on the opposite side from its edge; as, the back of a knife, or of a saw. |
| | noun (n.) A support or resource in reserve. |
| | noun (n.) The keel and keelson of a ship. |
| | noun (n.) The upper part of a lode, or the roof of a horizontal underground passage. |
| | noun (n.) A garment for the back; hence, clothing. |
| | adjective (a.) Being at the back or in the rear; distant; remote; as, the back door; back settlements. |
| | adjective (a.) Being in arrear; overdue; as, back rent. |
| | adjective (a.) Moving or operating backward; as, back action. |
| | verb (v. i.) To get upon the back of; to mount. |
| | verb (v. i.) To place or seat upon the back. |
| | verb (v. i.) To drive or force backward; to cause to retreat or recede; as, to back oxen. |
| | verb (v. i.) To make a back for; to furnish with a back; as, to back books. |
| | verb (v. i.) To adjoin behind; to be at the back of. |
| | verb (v. i.) To write upon the back of; as, to back a letter; to indorse; as, to back a note or legal document. |
| | verb (v. i.) To support; to maintain; to second or strengthen by aid or influence; as, to back a friend. |
| | verb (v. i.) To bet on the success of; -- as, to back a race horse. |
| | verb (v. i.) To move or go backward; as, the horse refuses to back. |
| | verb (v. i.) To change from one quarter to another by a course opposite to that of the sun; -- used of the wind. |
| | verb (v. i.) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed; -- said of a dog. |
| | adverb (adv.) In, to, or toward, the rear; as, to stand back; to step back. |
| | adverb (adv.) To the place from which one came; to the place or person from which something is taken or derived; as, to go back for something left behind; to go back to one's native place; to put a book back after reading it. |
| | adverb (adv.) To a former state, condition, or station; as, to go back to private life; to go back to barbarism. |
| | adverb (adv.) (Of time) In times past; ago. |
| | adverb (adv.) Away from contact; by reverse movement. |
| | adverb (adv.) In concealment or reserve; in one's own possession; as, to keep back the truth; to keep back part of the money due to another. |
| | adverb (adv.) In a state of restraint or hindrance. |
| | adverb (adv.) In return, repayment, or requital. |
| | adverb (adv.) In withdrawal from a statement, promise, or undertaking; as, he took back0 the offensive words. |
| | adverb (adv.) In arrear; as, to be back in one's rent. |
| bank | noun (n.) A bench; a high seat, or seat of distinction or judgment; a tribunal or court. |
| | noun (n.) A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow. |
| | noun (n.) A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine. |
| | noun (n.) The margin of a watercourse; the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea, or forming the edge of a cutting, or other hollow. |
| | noun (n.) An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland. |
| | noun (n.) The face of the coal at which miners are working. |
| | noun (n.) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level. |
| | noun (n.) The ground at the top of a shaft; as, ores are brought to bank. |
| | noun (n.) A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars. |
| | noun (n.) The bench or seat upon which the judges sit. |
| | noun (n.) The regular term of a court of law, or the full court sitting to hear arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at Nisi Prius, or a court held for jury trials. See Banc. |
| | noun (n.) A sort of table used by printers. |
| | noun (n.) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ. |
| | noun (n.) An establishment for the custody, loan, exchange, or issue, of money, and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange; an institution incorporated for performing one or more of such functions, or the stockholders (or their representatives, the directors), acting in their corporate capacity. |
| | noun (n.) The building or office used for banking purposes. |
| | noun (n.) A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital. |
| | noun (n.) The sum of money or the checks which the dealer or banker has as a fund, from which to draw his stakes and pay his losses. |
| | noun (n.) In certain games, as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw. |
| | noun (n.) A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc. |
| | noun (n.) The lateral inclination of an aeroplane as it rounds a curve; as, a bank of 45¡ is easy; a bank of 90¡ is dangerous. |
| | verb (v. t.) To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank. |
| | verb (v. t.) To heap or pile up; as, to bank sand. |
| | verb (v. t.) To pass by the banks of. |
| | verb (v. t.) To deposit in a bank. |
| | verb (v. i.) To keep a bank; to carry on the business of a banker. |
| | verb (v. i.) To deposit money in a bank; to have an account with a banker. |
| | verb (v. i.) To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; -- said of a flying machine, an aerocurve, or the like. |
| beak | noun (n.) The bill or nib of a bird, consisting of a horny sheath, covering the jaws. The form varied much according to the food and habits of the bird, and is largely used in the classification of birds. |
| | noun (n.) A similar bill in other animals, as the turtles. |
| | noun (n.) The long projecting sucking mouth of some insects, and other invertebrates, as in the Hemiptera. |
| | noun (n.) The upper or projecting part of the shell, near the hinge of a bivalve. |
| | noun (n.) The prolongation of certain univalve shells containing the canal. |
| | noun (n.) Anything projecting or ending in a point, like a beak, as a promontory of land. |
| | noun (n.) A beam, shod or armed at the end with a metal head or point, and projecting from the prow of an ancient galley, in order to pierce the vessel of an enemy; a beakhead. |
| | noun (n.) That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee. |
| | noun (n.) A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off. |
| | noun (n.) Any process somewhat like the beak of a bird, terminating the fruit or other parts of a plant. |
| | noun (n.) A toe clip. See Clip, n. (Far.). |
| | noun (n.) A magistrate or policeman. |
| black | noun (n.) That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black. |
| | noun (n.) A black pigment or dye. |
| | noun (n.) A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races. |
| | noun (n.) A black garment or dress; as, she wears black |
| | noun (n.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery. |
| | noun (n.) The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. |
| | noun (n.) A stain; a spot; a smooch. |
| | adjective (a.) Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes. |
| | adjective (a.) In a less literal sense: Enveloped or shrouded in darkness; very dark or gloomy; as, a black night; the heavens black with clouds. |
| | adjective (a.) Fig.: Dismal, gloomy, or forbidding, like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. |
| | adjective (a.) Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen; foreboding; as, to regard one with black looks. |
| | adjective (a.) To make black; to blacken; to soil; to sully. |
| | adjective (a.) To make black and shining, as boots or a stove, by applying blacking and then polishing with a brush. |
| | adverb (adv.) Sullenly; threateningly; maliciously; so as to produce blackness. |
| blank | noun (n.) Any void space; a void space on paper, or in any written instrument; an interval void of consciousness, action, result, etc; a void. |
| | noun (n.) A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated. |
| | noun (n.) A paper unwritten; a paper without marks or characters a blank ballot; -- especially, a paper on which are to be inserted designated items of information, for which spaces are left vacant; a bland form. |
| | noun (n.) A paper containing the substance of a legal instrument, as a deed, release, writ, or execution, with spaces left to be filled with names, date, descriptions, etc. |
| | noun (n.) The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed. |
| | noun (n.) Aim; shot; range. |
| | noun (n.) A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence. |
| | noun (n.) A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts. |
| | noun (n.) A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the "double blank"; the "six blank." |
| | adjective (a.) Of a white or pale color; without color. |
| | adjective (a.) Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in with some special writing; -- said of checks, official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot. |
| | adjective (a.) Utterly confounded or discomfited. |
| | adjective (a.) Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day. |
| | adjective (a.) Lacking characteristics which give variety; as, a blank desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests, affections, hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of sensations; as, blank unconsciousness. |
| | adjective (a.) Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant. |
| | adjective (a.) Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror. |
| | verb (v. t.) To make void; to annul. |
| | verb (v. t.) To blanch; to make blank; to damp the spirits of; to dispirit or confuse. |
| block | noun (n.) To obstruct so as to prevent passage or progress; to prevent passage from, through, or into, by obstructing the way; -- used both of persons and things; -- often followed by up; as, to block up a road or harbor. |
| | noun (n.) To secure or support by means of blocks; to secure, as two boards at their angles of intersection, by pieces of wood glued to each. |
| | noun (n.) To shape on, or stamp with, a block; as, to block a hat. |
| | noun (n.) In Australia, one of the large lots into which public land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the government surveyors. |
| | noun (n.) The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket. |
| | noun (n.) A block hole. |
| | noun (n.) The popping crease. |
| | verb (v. t.) A piece of wood more or less bulky; a solid mass of wood, stone, etc., usually with one or more plane, or approximately plane, faces; as, a block on which a butcher chops his meat; a block by which to mount a horse; children's playing blocks, etc. |
| | verb (v. t.) The solid piece of wood on which condemned persons lay their necks when they are beheaded. |
| | verb (v. t.) The wooden mold on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped. |
| | verb (v. t.) The pattern or shape of a hat. |
| | verb (v. t.) A large or long building divided into separate houses or shops, or a number of houses or shops built in contact with each other so as to form one building; a row of houses or shops. |
| | verb (v. t.) A square, or portion of a city inclosed by streets, whether occupied by buildings or not. |
| | verb (v. t.) A grooved pulley or sheave incased in a frame or shell which is provided with a hook, eye, or strap, by which it may be attached to an object. It is used to change the direction of motion, as in raising a heavy object that can not be conveniently reached, and also, when two or more such sheaves are compounded, to change the rate of motion, or to exert increased force; -- used especially in the rigging of ships, and in tackles. |
| | verb (v. t.) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept. |
| | verb (v. t.) Any obstruction, or cause of obstruction; a stop; a hindrance; an obstacle; as, a block in the way. |
| | verb (v. t.) A piece of box or other wood for engravers' work. |
| | verb (v. t.) A piece of hard wood (as mahogany or cherry) on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted to make it type high. |
| | verb (v. t.) A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt. |
| | verb (v. t.) A section of a railroad where the block system is used. See Block system, below. |
| book | noun (n.) A collection of sheets of paper, or similar material, blank, written, or printed, bound together; commonly, many folded and bound sheets containing continuous printing or writing. |
| | noun (n.) A composition, written or printed; a treatise. |
| | noun (n.) A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as, the tenth book of "Paradise Lost." |
| | noun (n.) A volume or collection of sheets in which accounts are kept; a register of debts and credits, receipts and expenditures, etc. |
| | noun (n.) Six tricks taken by one side, in the game of whist; in certain other games, two or more corresponding cards, forming a set. |
| | verb (v. t.) To enter, write, or register in a book or list. |
| | verb (v. t.) To enter the name of (any one) in a book for the purpose of securing a passage, conveyance, or seat; as, to be booked for Southampton; to book a seat in a theater. |
| | verb (v. t.) To mark out for; to destine or assign for; as, he is booked for the valedictory. |
| break | noun (n.) See Commutator. |
| | verb (v. t.) To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock. |
| | verb (v. t.) To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods. |
| | verb (v. t.) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate. |
| | verb (v. t.) To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise. |
| | verb (v. t.) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey. |
| | verb (v. t.) To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set. |
| | verb (v. t.) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares. |
| | verb (v. t.) To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments. |
| | verb (v. t.) To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill. |
| | verb (v. t.) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax. |
| | verb (v. t.) To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind. |
| | verb (v. t.) To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. |
| | verb (v. t.) To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend. |
| | verb (v. t.) To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle. |
| | verb (v. t.) To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin. |
| | verb (v. t.) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. |
| | verb (v. i.) To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder. |
| | verb (v. i.) To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag. |
| | verb (v. i.) To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn. |
| | verb (v. i.) To burst forth violently, as a storm. |
| | verb (v. i.) To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking. |
| | verb (v. i.) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength. |
| | verb (v. i.) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking. |
| | verb (v. i.) To fall in business; to become bankrupt. |
| | verb (v. i.) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop. |
| | verb (v. i.) To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead. Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty. |
| | verb (v. i.) To fall out; to terminate friendship. |
| | verb (v. t.) An opening made by fracture or disruption. |
| | verb (v. t.) An interruption of continuity; change of direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a ship. |
| | verb (v. t.) A projection or recess from the face of a building. |
| | verb (v. t.) An opening or displacement in the circuit, interrupting the electrical current. |
| | verb (v. t.) An interruption; a pause; as, a break in friendship; a break in the conversation. |
| | verb (v. t.) An interruption in continuity in writing or printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc. |
| | verb (v. t.) The first appearing, as of light in the morning; the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn. |
| | verb (v. t.) A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind. |
| | verb (v. t.) A device for checking motion, or for measuring friction. See Brake, n. 9 & 10. |
| brick | noun (n.) A block or clay tempered with water, sand, etc., molded into a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp. |
| | noun (n.) Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick. |
| | noun (n.) Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread). |
| | noun (n.) A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick. |
| | verb (v. t.) To lay or pave with bricks; to surround, line, or construct with bricks. |
| | verb (v. t.) To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on, as by smearing plaster with red ocher, making the joints with an edge tool, and pointing them. |
| buck | noun (n.) Lye or suds in which cloth is soaked in the operation of bleaching, or in which clothes are washed. |
| | noun (n.) The cloth or clothes soaked or washed. |
| | noun (n.) The male of deer, especially fallow deer and antelopes, or of goats, sheep, hares, and rabbits. |
| | noun (n.) A gay, dashing young fellow; a fop; a dandy. |
| | noun (n.) A male Indian or negro. |
| | noun (n.) A frame on which firewood is sawed; a sawhorse; a sawbuck. |
| | noun (n.) The beech tree. |
| | verb (v. t.) To soak, steep, or boil, in lye or suds; -- a process in bleaching. |
| | verb (v. t.) To wash (clothes) in lye or suds, or, in later usage, by beating them on stones in running water. |
| | verb (v. t.) To break up or pulverize, as ores. |
| | verb (v. i.) To copulate, as bucks and does. |
| | verb (v. i.) To spring with quick plunging leaps, descending with the fore legs rigid and the head held as low down as possible; -- said of a vicious horse or mule. |
| | verb (v. t.) To subject to a mode of punishment which consists in tying the wrists together, passing the arms over the bent knees, and putting a stick across the arms and in the angle formed by the knees. |
| | verb (v. t.) To throw by bucking. See Buck, v. i., 2. |
