Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
THYRSE — TIME-SERVER
THYRSE, n. [L. thyrsus.] In botany, a species of inflorescence; a panicle contracted into an ovate form, or a dense or close panicle, more or less of an ovate figure, as in the lilac.
THYSELF, pron. [thy and self.] A pronoun used after thou, to express distinction with emphasis. “Thou thyself shalt go;” that is, thou shalt go and no other. It is sometimes used without thou, and in the nominative as well as objective case.
These goods thyself can on thyself bestow.
TIAR, TIARA, n. [L. tiara.]
1. An ornament or article of dress with which the ancient Persians covered their heads; a kind of turban. As different authors describe it, it must have been of different forms. The kings of Persia alone had a right to wear it straight or erect; the lords and priests wore it depressed, or turned down on the fore side. Xenophon says the tiara was encompassed with the diadem, at least in ceremonials.
2. An ornament worn by the Jewish high priest. Exodus 28:4.
3. The pope’s triple crown. The tiara and keys are the badges of the papal dignity; the tiara of his civil rank, and the keys of his jurisdiction. It was formerly a round high cap. It was afterward encompassed with a crown, then with a second and a third.
TIBIAL, a. [L. tibia, a flute, and the large bone of the leg.]
1. Pertaining to the large bone of the leg; as the tibial artery; tibial nerve.
2. Pertaining to a pipe or flute.
TIBURO, n. A fish of the shark kind.
TICE, for entice. [Not in use.]
TICK, n. Credit; trust; as, to buy upon tick.
TICK, n. A little animal of a livid color and globose-ovate form, that infests sheep, dogs, goats, cows, etc., a species of Acarus.
TICK, n. [L. tego; Eng. to deck.] The cover or case of a bed, which contains the feathers, wool or other material.
TICK, v.i. [from tick, credit.] To run upon score.
1. To trust.
TICK, v.i. [L. tango, tago.] To beat; to pat; or to make a small noise by beating or otherwise; as a watch.
TICKBEAN, n. A small bean employed in feeding horses and other animals.
TICKEN, n. Cloth for bed-ticks or cases for beds.
TICKET, n.
1. A piece of paper or a card, which gives the holder a right of admission to some place; as a ticket for the play-house or for other exhibition.
2. A piece of paper or writing, acknowledging some debt, or a certificate that something is due to the holder.
3. A piece of paper bearing some number in a lottery, which entitles the owner to receive such prize as may be drawn against that number. When it draws no prize, it is said to draw a blank, and the holder has nothing to receive.
TICKET, v.t. To distinguish by a ticket.
TICKLE, v.t. [L. titillo, corrupted.]
1. To touch lightly and cause a peculiar thrilling sensation, which cannot be described. A slight sensation of this kind may give pleasure, but when violent it is insufferable.
2. To please by slight gratification. A glass of wine may tickle the palate.
Such a nature
Tickled with good success.
TICKLE, v.i. To feel titillation.
He with secret joy therefore
Did tickle inwardly in every vein.
TICKLE, a. Tottering; wavering, or liable to waver and fall at the slightest touch; unstable; easily overthrown.
Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milkmaid, if in love, may sign it off.
The state of Normandy
Stands on a tickle point.
[This word is wholly obsolete, at least in N. England. Ticklish is the word used.]
TICKLENESS, n. Unsteadiness. [Not in use.]
TICKLER, n. One that tickles or pleases.
TICKLING, ppr. Affecting with titillation.
TICKLING, n. The act of affecting with titillation.
TICKLISH, a. Sensible to slight touches, easily tickled. The bottom of the foot is very ticklish, as are the sides. The palm of the hand, hardened by use, it not ticklish.
1. Tottering; standing so as to be liable to totter and fall at the slightest touch; unfixed; easily moved or affected.
Ireland was a ticklish and unsettled state.
2. Difficult; nice; critical; as, these are ticklish times.
TICKLISHNESS, n. The state or quality of being ticklish or very sensible.
1. The state of being tottering or liable to fall.
2. Criticalness of condition or state.
TICK-SEED, n. A plant of the genus Coreopsis, and another of the genus Corispernum.
TICKTACK, n. A game at tables.
TID, a. Tender; soft; nice.
TIDBIT, n. [tid and bit.] A delicate or tender piece.
TIDDLE, TIDDER, v.t. To use with tenderness; to fondle.
TIDE, n.
1. Time; season.
Which, at the appointed tide,
Each one did make his bride.
[This sense is obsolete.]
2. The flow of the water in the ocean and seas, twice in a little more than twenty four hours; the flux and reflux, or ebb and flow. We commonly distinguish the flow or rising of the water by the name of flood-tide, and the reflux by that of ebb-tide. There is much less tide or rise of water in the main ocean, at a distance from land, than there is at the shore, and in sounds and bays.
3. Stream; course; current; as the tide of the times.
Time’s ungentle tide.
4. Favorable course.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
5. Violent confluence. [Not in use.]
6. Among miners, the period of twelve hours.
7. Current; flow of blood.
And life’s red tide runs ebbing from the wound.
TIDE, v.t. To drive with the stream.
TIDE, v.i. To work in or out of a river or harbor by favor of the tide, and anchor when it becomes adverse.
TIDE-GATE, n. A gate through which water passes into a basin when the tide flows, and which is shut to retain the water from flowing back at the ebb.
1. Among seamen, a place where the tide runs with great velocity.
TIDE-MILL, n. [tide and mill.] A mill that is moved by tide water; also, a mill for clearing lands from tide water.
TIDES-MAN, n. An officer who remains on board of a merchant’s ship till the goods are landed, to prevent the evasion of the duties.
TIDE-WAITER, n. [tide and waiter.] An officer who watches the landing of goods, to secure the payment of duties.
TIDE-WAY, n. [tide and way.] The channel in which the tide sets.
TIDILY, adv. [from tidy.] Neatly; with neat simplicity; as a female tidily dressed.
TIDINESS, n. Neatness without richness or elegance; neat simplicity; as the tidiness of dress.
1. Neatness; as the tidiness of rooms.
TIDINGS, n. plu. News; advice; information; intelligence; account of what has taken place, and was not before known.
I shall make my master glad with these tidings.
Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10.
TIDY, a. [from tide, time, season.]
1. In its primary sense, seasonable; favorable; being in proper time; as weather fair and tidy.
2. Neat; dressed with neat simplicity; as a tidy lass; the children are tidy; their dress is tidy; that is primarily, proper for the time or occasion.
3. Neat; being in good order. The apartments are well furnished and tidy.
TIE, TYE, v.t. [L. taceo, to be silent.]
1. To bind; to fasten with a band or cord and knot.
My son, keep thy father’s commandments-- bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. Proverbs 6:21.
2. To fold and make fast; as, to tie a knot.
3. To knit; to complicate.
We do not tie this knot with an intention to puzzle the argument.
4. To fasten; to hold; to unite so as not to be easily parted.
In bond of virtuous love together tied.
5. To oblige; to constrain; to restrain; to confine. People in their jealousy, may tie the hands of their ministers and public agents, so as to prevent them from doing good.
Not tied to rules of policy, you find
Revenge less sweet than a forgiving mind.
6. In music, to unite notes by a cross line, or by a curve line drawn over them.
To tie up, to confine; to restrain; to hinder from motion or action; as, to tie up the tongue; to tie up the hands.
To tie down, to fasten so as to prevent from rising.
1. To restrain; to confine; to hinder from action.
TIE, n. A knot; fastening.
1. Bond; obligation, moral or legal; as the sacred ties of friendship or of duty; the ties of allegiance.
2. A knot of hair.
TIED, TYED, pp. Bound; fastened with a knot; confined; restrained; united, as notes.
TIER, n. A row; a rank; particularly when two or more rows are placed one above another; as a tier of seats in a church or theater. Thus in ships of war, the range of guns on one deck and one side of a ship, is called a tier. Those on the lower deck are called the lower tier, and those above, the middle or upper tiers. Ships with three tiers of guns are three deckers.
The tiers of a cable are the ranges of fakes or windings of a cable, laid one within another when coiled.
Tier, in organs, is a rank or range of pipes in the front of the instrument, or in the interior, when the compound stops have several ranks of pipes.
TIERCE, n. ters. A cask whose content is one third of a pipe, that is, forty gallons; or it may be the measure.
1. In Ireland, a weight by which provisions are sold. The tierce of beef for the navy, is 304 lb. and for India, 336 lb.
2. In music, a third.
3. In gaming, a sequence of three cards of the same color.
4. A thrust in fencing.
TIERCEL, TIERCELET, n. In falconry, a name given to the male hawk, as being a third part less than the female.
TIERCET, n. ter’cet. [from tierce.] In poetry, a triplet; three lines, or three lines rhyming.
TIFF, n. Liquor; or rather a small draught of liquor. [Vulgar.]
1. A pet or fit of peevishness.
[I know not where this word is used in the latter sense.]
TIFF, v.i. To be in a pet. [Low.]
TIFF, v.t. To dress. [Not in use.]
TIFFANY, n. [According to the Italian and Spanish Dictionaries, this word is to be referred to taffeta.]
A species of gauze or very thin silk.
Tiffe-de-mer, a species of sea plant, so called by Count Marsigli, from its resemblance to the heads of the Typha palustris, or cat’s tail. It has a smooth surface and a velvety look. It grows to two feet in highth, and is elegantly branched. It grows on rocks and stones, and when first taken out of the sea, is full of a yellow viscous water, but when this is pressed out and the substance is dried, it becomes of a dusky brown color.
TIG, n. A play. [See Tag.]
TIGE, n. The shaft of a column from the astragal to the capital.
TIGER, n. [L. tigris.] A fierce and rapacious animal of the genus Felis, one of the largest and most terrible of the genus, inhabiting Africa and Asia. The American tiger is the Felis onca. There is also the tiger cat or Felis capensis.
TIGER-FOOTED, a. Hastening to devour; furious.
TIGERISH, a. Like a tiger.
TIGER’S-FOOT, n. A plant of the genus Ipomoea.
TIGER-SHELL, n. [tiger and shell.] A name given to the red voluta, with large white spots. In the Linnean system, the tiger-shell is a species of Cypraea.
TIGH, n. In Kent, a close or inclosure.
TIGHT, a. [L. taceo; that is, close, closely compressed.]
1. Close; compact; not loose or open; having the joints so close that no fluid can enter or escape; not leaky; as a tight ship, or a tight cask.
2. Close; not admitting much air; as a tight room.
3. Sitting close to the body; as a tight coat or other garment.
4. Close; not having holes or crevices; not loose; applied to many vessels, etc.
5. Close; hard; as a tight bargain. [In common use in America.]
6. Close; parsimonious; saving; as a man tight in his dealings. [In common use in America.]
7. Closely dressed; not ragged.
I’ll spin and card, and keep our children tight.
8. Hardy; adroit.
[Note. This is the taugt or taught of seamen, applied to a rope stretched. The primary sense is strained.]
TIGHTEN, v.t. ti’tn. To draw tighter; to straiten; to make close in any manner.
TIGHTER, n. A ribin or string used to draw clothes closer. [Not used.]
1. More tight.
TIGHTLY, adv. Closely; compactly.
1. Neatly; adroitly.
TIGHTNESS, n. Closeness of joints; compactness; straitness.
1. Neatness, as in dress.
2. Parsimoniousness; closeness in dealing.
TIGRESS, n. [from tiger.] The female of the tiger.
TIKE, n. A tick. [See Tick.]
TIKE, n.
1. A countryman or clown.
2. A dog.
TILE, n. [L. tegula; tego, to cover; Eng. to deck.]
1. A plate or piece of baked clay, used for covering the roofs of buildings.
The pins for fastening tiles are made of oak or fir.
2. In metallurgy, a small flat piece of dried earth, used to cover vessels in which metals are fused.
3. A piece of baked clay used in drains.
TILE, v.t. To cover with tiles; as, to tile a house.
1. To cover, as tiles.
The muscle, sinew and vein.
Which tile this house, will come again.
TILE-EARTH, n. A species of strong clayey earth; stiff and stubborn land. [Local.]
TILED, pp. Covered with tiles.
TILE-ORE, n. A subspecies of octahedral red copper ore.
TILER, n. A man whose occupation is to cover buildings with tiles.
TILING, ppr. Covering with tiles.
TILING, n. A roof covered with tiles. Luke 5:19.
1. Tiles in general.
TILL, n. A vetch; a tare. [Local.]
TILL, TILLER, n. A money box in a shop; a drawer.
TILL, prep. or adv.
1. To the time or time of. I did not see the man till the last time he came; I waited for him till four o’clock; I will wait till next week.
Till now, to the present time. I never heard of the fact ill now.
Till then, to that time. I never heard of the fact till then.
2. It is used before verbs and sentences in a like sense, denoting to the time specified in the sentence or clause following. I will wait till you arrive.
He said to them, occupy till I come. Luke 19:13.
Certain Jews--bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Acts 23:12.
Mediate so long till you make some act of prayer to God.
[Note.--In this use, till is not a conjunction; it does not connect sentences like and, or like or. It neither denotes union nor separation, nor an alternative. It has always the same office, except that is precedes a single word or a single sentence; the time to which it refers being in one case expressed by a single word, as now, or the, or time, with this, or that, etc., and in the other by a verb with its adjuncts; as, occupy till I come. In the latter use, till is a preposition preceding a sentence, like against, in the phrase, against I come.]
TILL, v.t.
1. To labor; to cultivate; to plow and prepare for seed, and to dress crops. This word includes not only plowing but harrowing, and whatever is done to prepare ground for a crop, and to keep it free from weeds.
The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. Genesis 3:23.
2. In the most general sense, to till may include every species of husbandry, and this may be its sense in Scripture.
TILLABLE, a. Capable of being tilled; arable; fit for the plow.
TILLAGE, n. The operation, practice or art of preparing land for seed, and keeping the ground free from weeds which might impede the growth of crops. Tillage includes manuring, plowing, harrowing and rolling land, or whatever is done to bring it to a proper state to receive the seed, and the operations of plowing, harrowing and hoeing the ground, to destroy weeds and loosen the soil after it is planted; culture; a principal branch of agriculture. Tillage of the earth is the principal as it was the first occupation of man, and no employment is more honorable.
TILLED, pp. Cultivated; prepared for seed and kept clean.
TILLER, n. One who tills; a husbandman; a cultivator; a plowman.
1. The bar or lever employed to turn the rudder of a ship.
2. A small drawer; a till.
3. Among farmers, the shoot of a plant, springing from the root or bottom of the original stalk; also, the sprout or young tree that springs from the root or stump.
4. A young timber tree. [Local.]
TILLER, v.i. To put forth new shoots from the root, or round the bottom of the original stalk; as we say, wheat or rye tillers; it spreads by tillering. The common orthography is tiller. Sir Joseph Banks writes it tillow.
TILLERING, ppr. Sending out new shoots round the bottom of the original stem.
TILLERING, n. The act of sending forth young shoots from the root or around the bottom of the original stalk.
TILLER-ROPE, n. The rope which forms a communication between the fore end of the tiller and the wheel.
TILLING, ppr. Cultivating.
TILLING, n. The operation of cultivating land; culture.
TILLMAN, n. A man who tills the earth; a husbandman.
TILLY-FALLY, TILLY-VALLY, adv. or a. A word formerly used when any thing said was rejected as trifling or impertinent.
TILT, n.
1. A tent; a covering over head.
2. The cloth covering of a cart or wagon.
3. The cover of a boat; a small canopy or awning of canvas or other cloth, extended over the stern sheets of a boat.
TILT, v.t. To cover with a cloth or awning.
TILT, n. [See the verb.] A thrust; as a tilt with a lance.
1. Formerly, a military exercise on horseback, in which the combatants attacked each other with lances; as tilts and tournaments.
2. A large hammer; a tilt-hammer; used in iron manufactures.
3. Inclination forward; as the tilt of a cask; or a cask is a-tilt.
TILT, v.t. [L. tollo.]
1. To incline; to raise one end, as a cask, for discharging liquor; as, to tilt a barrel.
2. To point or thrust, as a lance.
Sons against fathers tilt the fatal lance.
3. To hammer or forge with a tilt-hammer or tilt; as, to tilt steel to render it more ductile.
4. To cover with a tilt.
TILT, v.i. To run or ride and thrust with a lance; to practice the military game or exercise of thrusting at each other on horseback.
1. To fight with rapiers.
Swords out and tilting one at other’s breast.
2. To rush, as in combat.
3. To play unsteadily; to ride, float and toss.
The fleet swift tilting o’er the surges flew.
4. To lean; to fall, as on one side.
The trunk of the body is kept from tilting forward by the muscles of the back.
TILT-BOAT, n. A boat covered with canvas or other cloth.
TILTED, pp. Inclined; made to stoop; covered with cloth or awning.
1. Hammered; prepared by beating; as steel.
TILTER, n. One who tilts; one who uses the exercise of pushing a lance on horseback; one who fights.
Let me alone to match your tilter.
1. One who hammers with a tilt.
TILTH, n. That which is tilled; tillage ground. [Not in use.]
1. The state of being tilled or prepared for a crop. We say, land is in good tilth, when it is manured, plowed, broken and mellowed for receiving the seed. We say also, ground is in bad tilth. When we say, land is in tilth, we mean in good condition for the seed; not in tilth, in a bad condition.
TILT-HAMMER, n. [tilt and hammer.] A heavy hammer used in iron works, which is lifted by a wheel.
TILTING, ppr. Inclining; causing to stoop or lean; using the game of thrusting with the lance on horseback; also, hammering with a tilt-hammer.
TIMBAL, n. A kettle drum.
TIMBER, n. [L. domus, a house; Gr. the body.]
1. That sort of wood which is proper for building or for tools, utensils, furniture, carriages, fences, ships and the like. We apply the word to standing trees which are suitable for the uses above mentioned, as a forest contains excellent timber; or to the beams, rafters, scantling, boards, planks, etc. hewed or sawed from such trees. Of all the species of trees useful as timber, in our climate, the white oak and the white pine hold the first place in importance.
2. The body or stem of a tree.
3. The materials; in irony.
Such dispositions--are the fittest timber to make politics of.
4. A single piece or squared stick of wood for building, or already framed.
Many of the timbers were decayed.
5. In ships, a timber is a rib or curving piece of wood, branching outward from the keel in a vertical direction. One timber is composed of several pieces united in one frame.
TIMBER, v.t. To furnish with timber. [See Timbered.]
TIMBER, v.i. To light on a tree. [Not in use.]
1. In falconry, to make a nest.
Timber or timmer of furs, as of martens, ermines, sables and the like, denotes forty skins; of other skins, one hundred and twenty.
Timber of ermine, in heraldry, denote the ranks or rows of ermine in noblemen’s coats.
TIMBERED, pp. or a. Furnished with timber; as a well timbered house. In the United States, we say, land is well timbered, when it is covered with good timber trees.
1. Built; formed; contrived. [Little used.]
TIMBER-HEAD, n. [timber and head.] In ships, the top end of a timber, rising above the gunwale, and serving for belaying ropes, etc.; otherwise called kevelhead.
TIMBERING, ppr. Furnishing with timber.
TIMBER-SOW, n. A worm in wood.
TIMBER-TREE, n. [timber and tree.] A tree suitable for timber.
TIMBER-WORK, n. [timber and work.] Work formed of wood.
TIMBER-YARD, n. [timber and yard.] A yard or place where timber is deposited.
TIMBRE, n. A crest on a coat of arms. It ought to be written timber.
TIMBREL, n. [L. tympanum.] An instrument of music; a kind of drum, tabor or tabret, which has been in use from the highest antiquity.
And Miriam took a timbrel in her hand--and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. Exodus 15:20.
TIMBRELED, a. Sung to the sound of the timbrel.
TIME, n. [L. tempus; tempora, the falls of the head, also tempest, etc. See Tempest. Time is primarily equivalent to season; to the Gr. wpa in its original sense, opportunity, occasion, a fall, an event, that which comes.]
1. A particular portion or part of duration, whether past, present or future. The time was; the time has been; the time is; the time will be.
Lost time is never found again.
God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Hebrews 1:1.
2. A proper time; a season.
There is a time to every purpose. Ecclesiastes 3:1.
The time of figs was not yet. Mark 11:13.
3. Duration.
The equal and uniform flux of time does not affect our senses.
Time is absolute or relative; absolute time is considered without any relation to bodies or their motions. Relative time is the sensible measure of any portion of duration, by means of motion. Thus the diurnal revolution of the sun measures a space of time or duration. Hence,
4. A space or measured portion of duration.
We were in Paris two months, and all that time enjoyed good health.
5. Life or duration, in reference to occupation. One man spends his time in idleness; another devotes all his time to useful purposes.
Believe me, your time is not your own; it belongs to God, to religion, to mankind.
6. Age; a part of duration distinct from other parts; as ancient times; modern times. The Spanish armada was defeated in the time of Queen Elizabeth.
7. Hour of travail.
She was within one month of her time.
8. Repetition; repeated performance, or mention with reference to repetition. The physician visits his patient three times in a day.
9. Repetition; doubling; addition of a number to itself; as, to double cloth four times; four times four amount to sixteen.
10. Measure of sounds in music; as common time, and treble time. In concerts, it is all important, that the performers keep time, or exact time.
11. The state of things at a particular period; as when we say, good times, or bad times, hard times, dull times for trade, etc. In this sense, the plural is generally used.
12. In grammar, tense.
In time, in good season; sufficiently early.
He arrived in time to see the exhibition.
1. A considerable space of duration; process or continuation of duration. You must wait patiently; you will in time recover your health and strength.
At times, at distinct intervals of duration. At times he reads; at other times, he rides.
The spirit began to move him at times. Judges 13:25.
Time enough, in season; early enough.
Stanley at Bosworth-field, came time enough to save his life.
To lose time, to delay.
1. To go too slow; as, a watch or clock loses time.
Apparent time, in astronomy, true solar time, regulated by the apparent motions of the sun.
Mean time, equated time, a mean or average of apparent time.
Siderial time, is that which is shown by the diurnal revolutions of the stars.
TIME, v.t. To adapt to the time or occasion; to bring, begin or perform at the proper season or time; as, the measure is well timed, or ill timed. No small part of political wisdom consists in knowing how to time propositions and measures.
Mercy is good, but kings mistake its timing.
1. To regulate as to time; as, he timed the stroke.
2. To measure; as in music or harmony.
TIMED, pp. Adapted to the season or occasion.
TIMEFUL, a. Seasonable; timely; sufficiently early. [Not much used.]
TIMEIST, n. In music, a performer who keeps good time.
TIME-KEEPER, n. [time and keeper.] A clock, watch or other chronometer.
TIMELESS, a. Unseasonable; done at an improper time.
Nor fits it to prolong the heav’nly feast
Timeless-- [Not used.]
1. Untimely; immature; done or suffered before the proper time; as a timeless grave. [Not used.]
TIMELESSLY, adv. Unseasonably.
TIMELINESS, n. [from timely.] Seasonableness; a being in good time.
TIMELY, a. Seasonable; being in good time; sufficiently early. The defendant had timely notice of this motion. Timely care will often prevent great evils.
1. Keeping time or measure. [Not used.]
TIMELY, adv. Early; soon; in good season.
Timely advis’d, the coming evil shun.