Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
COLLYRITE — COMETOGRAPHY
COLLYRITE, n. A variety of clay, of a white color, with shades of gray, red, or yellow.
COLLYRIUM, n. Eye-salve; eye-wash; a topical remedy for disorders of the eyes.
COLMAR, n. A sort of pear.
COLOCYNTH, n. The coloquintida, or bitter apple of the shops, a kind of gourd, from Aleppo and from Crete. It contains a bitter pulp, which is a drastic purge.
COLOGNE-EARTH, n. A kind of light bastard ocher, of a deep brown color, not a pure native fossil, but containing more vegetable than mineral matter; supposed to be the remains of wood long buried in the earth.
It is an earthy variety of lignite or brown coal.
COLOMBO, n. A root from colombo in Ceylon. Its smell is aromatic, and its taste pungent and bitter. It is much esteemed as a tonic in dyspeptic and bilious diseases.
COLON, n.
1. In anatomy, the largest of the intestines, or rather the largest division of the intestinal canal; beginning at the ceecum, and ascending by the right kidney, it passes under the hollow part of the liver, and the bottom of the stomach, to the spleen; thence descending by the left kidney, it passes, in the form of an S, to the upper part of the os sacrum, where, from its straight course, the canal takes the name of rectum.
2. In grammar, a point or character formed thus [:], used to mark a pause, greater than that of a semicolon, but less than that of a period; or rather it is used when the sense of the division of a period is complete, so as to admit a full point; but something is added by way of illustration, or the description is continued by an additional remark, without a necessary dependence on the foregoing members of the sentence. Thus,
A brute arrives at a point of perfection he can never pass: in a few years he has all the endowments he is capable of.
The colon is often used before an address, quotation or example. Mr. Gray was followed by Mr. Erskine, who spoke thus: I rise to second the motion of my honorable friend. But the propriety of this depends on the pause, and this depends on the form of introducing the quotation; for after say, said, or a like word, the colon is not used, and seems to be improper. Thus in our version of the scriptures, such members are almost invariably followed by a comma. But Jesus said to them, Ye know not what ye ask.
The use of the colon is not uniform; nor is it easily defined and reduced to rules. Indeed the use of it might be dispensed with without much inconvenience.
COLONEL, n. The chief commander of a regiment of troops, whether infantry or cavalry. He ranks next below a brigadier-general. In England, colonel-lieutenant is the commander of a regiment of guards, of which the king, prince or other person of eminence is colonel. Lieutenant-colonel is the second officer in a regiment, and commands it in the absence of the colonel.
COLONELCY, n.
COLONELSHIP, n. The office, rank or commission of a colonel.
COLONIAL, a. [See Colony.] Pertaining to a colony; as colonial government; colonial rights.
COLONIST, n. [See Colony.] An inhabitant of a colony.
COLONIZATION, n. The act of colonizing, or state of being colonized.
COLONIZE, v.t.
1. To plant or establish a colony in; to plant or settle a number of the subjects of a kingdom or state in a remote country, for the purpose of cultivation, commerce or defense, and for permanent residence.
The Greeks colonized the South of Italy and of France.
2. To migrate and settle in, as inhabitants. English Puritans colonized New England.
COLONIZED, pp. Settle or planted with a colony.
COLONIZING, ppr. Planting with a colony.
COLONIZING, n. The act of establishing a colony.
This state paper has been adopted as the basis of all her later colonizings.
COLONNADE, n.
1. In architecture, a peristyle of a circular figure, or a series of columns, disposed in a circle, and insulated within side.
2. Any series of range of columns.
A polystyle colonnade is a range of columns too great to be taken in by the eye at a single view; as that of the palace of St. Peter at Rome, consisting of 284 columns of the Doric order.
COLONY, n.
1. A company or body of people transplanted from their mother country to a remote province or country to cultivate and inhabit it, and remaining subject to the jurisdiction of the parent state; as the British colonies in America or the Indies; the Spanish colonies in South America. When such settlements cease to be subject to the parent state, they are no longer denominated colonies.
The first settles of New England were the best of Englishmen, well educated, devout Christians, and zealous lovers of liberty. There was never a colony formed of better materials.
2. The country planted or colonized; a plantation; also, the body of inhabitants in a territory colonized, including the descendants of the first planters. The people, though born in the territory, retain the name of colonists, till they cease to be subjects of the parent state.
3. A collection of animals; as colonies of shell-fish.
COLOPHON, n. The conclusion of a book, formerly containing the place or year, or both, of its publication.
COLOPHONITE, n. A variety of garnet, of a reddish yellow or brown color, occurring in small amorphous granular masses.
COLOPHONY, n. In pharmacy, black resin or turpentine boiled in water and dried; or the residuum, after distillation of the etherial oil of turpentine, being further urged by a more intense and long continued fire. It is so named from Colophon in Ionia, whence the best was formerly brought.
COLOQUINTIDA, n. The colocynth or bitter apple, the fruit of a plant of the genus Cucumis, a native of Syria and of Crete. It is of the size of a large orange, containing a pulp which is violently purgative, but sometimes useful as a medicine.
COLOR, n.
1. In physics, a property inherent in light, which, by a difference in the rays and the laws of refraction, or some other cause, gives to bodies particular appearances to the eye. The principal colors are red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo and violet. White is not properly a color; as a white body reflects the rays of light without separating them. Black bodies, on the contrary, absorb all the rays, or nearly all, and therefore black is no distinct color. But in common discourse, white and black are denominated colors; and all the colors admit of many shades of difference.
2. Appearance of a body to the eye, or a quality of sensation, caused by the rays of light; hue; dye; as the color of gold, or of indigo.
3. A red color; the freshness or appearance of blood in the face.
My cheeks no longer did their color boast.
4. Appearance to the mind; as, prejudice puts a false color upon objects.
5. Superficial cover; palliation; that which serves to give an appearance of right; as, their sin admitted no color or excuse.
6. External appearance; false show; pretense; guise.
Under the color of commending him,
I have access my own love to prefer.
7. Kind; species; character; complexion.
Boys and women are, for the most part, cattle of this color.
8. That which is used for coloring; paint; as red lead, ocher, orpiment, cinnabar, or vermilion, etc.
9. Colors, with a plural termination, in the military art, a flag, ensign or standard, borne in an army or fleet. [See Flag.]
10. In law, color in pleading is when the defendant in assize or trespass, gives to the plaintiff a color or appearance of title, by stating his title specially; thus removing the cause from the jury to the court.
Water-colors are such as are used in painting with gum-water or size, without being mixed with oil.
COLOR, v.t.
1. To change or alter the external appearance of a body or substance; to dye; to tinge; to paint; to stain; as, to color cloth. Generally, to color is to change from white to some other color.
2. To give a specious appearance; to set in a fair light; to palliate; to excuse.
He colors the falsehood of Aeneas by an express command of Jupiter to forsake the queen.
3. To make plausible; to exaggerate in representation.
To color a strangers good, is when a freeman allows a foreigner to enter goods at the custom house in his name, to avoid the aliens duty.
COLOR, v.i. To blush.
COLORABLE, adv. Speciously; plausibly; with a fair external appearance.
COLORATE, a. Colored; dyed; or tinged with some color.
COLORATION, n. The art or practice of coloring, or the state of being colored.
COLORATURE, n. In music, all manner of variations, trills, etc., intended to make a song agreeable.
COLORED, pp.
1. Having the external appearance changed; dyed; tinged; painted stained.
2. Streaked; striped; having a diversity of hues.
3. Having a specious appearance.
Colored people, black people, Africans or their descendants, mixed or unmixed.
COLORIFIC, a. That has the quality of tinging; able to give color, or tint to other bodies.
COLORING, ppr.
1. Dying; staining; tinging.
2. Giving a fair external appearance; palliating; excusing.
COLORING, n.
1. The act or art of dyeing; the state of being colored; color.
2. A specious appearance; fair artificial representation; as, the story has a coloring of truth.
3. Among painters, the manner of applying colors; or the mixture of light and shade, formed by the various colors employed.
COLORIST, n. One who colors; a painter who excels in giving the proper colors to his designs.
COLORLESS, a. Destitute of color; not distinguished by any hue; transparent; as colorless water, glass or gas.
COLOSSAL, COLOSSEAN, a. [See Colossus.] Like a colossus; very large; huge; gigantic.
COLOSSUS, n. A statue of a gigantic size. The most remarkable colossus of antiquity was one at Rhodes, a statue of Apollo, so high that it is said ships might sail between its legs.
COLOSSUS-WISE, adv. In the manner of a colossus.
COLSTAFF, n. A staff for carrying burdens by two on their shoulders.
COLT, n.
1. The young of the equine genus of animals or horse kind. In America, colt is equally applied to the male or female, and this is unquestionable correct. The male is called a house-colt, and the female is called a filly.
2. A young foolish fellow; a person without experience or stability.
COLT, v.i. To frisk, riot or frolic, like a colt; to be licentious.
COLT, v.t. To befool.
COLT’S-FOOT, n. A genus of plants, the Tussilago. The name is also given to a species of Cacalia.
COLT’S-TOOTH, n.
1. A imperfect or superfluous tooth in young horses.
2. A love of youthful pleasure.
Well said, Lord Sands;
Your colts-tooth is not yet cast? Shak.
COLTER, n. The fore iron of a plow, with a sharp edge, that cuts the earth or sod.
COLTISH, a. Like a colt; wanton; frisky; gay.
COLUBER, n. In zoology, a genus of serpents, distinguished by scuta or hard crusts on the belly, and scales on the tail. Under this genus are ranked many species, as the viper, black snake, etc.
COLUBRINE, a. Relating to the coluber, or to serpents; cunning; crafty.
COLUMBARY, n. A dove-cot; a pigeon-house.
COLUMBATE, n. A salt or compound of columbic acid, with a base.
COLUMBIAN, a. Pertaining to the United States, or to America, discovered by Columbus.
COLUMBIC, a. Pertaining to columbium; as columbic acid.
COLUMBIFEROUS, a. Producing or containing columbium.
COLUMBINE, a. Like or pertaining to a pigeon or dove; of a dove-color, or like the neck of a dove.
COLUMBINE, n. Aquilegia, a genus of plants of several species. The Thalictrum or meadow-rue is also called feathered columbine.
COLUMBITE, n. [See Columbium.] The ore of columbium.
COLUMBIUM, n. A metal first discovered in an ore or oxyd, found in Connecticut, at New-London, near the house of Gov. Winthrop, and by him transmitted to Sir Hans Sloane, by whom it was deposited in the British museum. The same metal was afterwards discovered in Sweden, and called tantalum, and its ore tantalite.
COLUMBO. [See Colombo.]
COLUMEL, n. In botany, the central column in a capsule, taking its rise from the receptacle, and having the seeds fixed to it all round.
COLUMN, n.
1. In architecture, a long round body of wood or stone, used to support or adorn a building, composed of a base, a shaft and a capital. The shaft tapers from the base, in imitation of the stem of a tree. There are five kinds or orders of columns. 1. The Tuscan, rude, simple and massy; the highth of which is fourteen semidiameters or modules, and the diminution at the top from one sixth to one eighth of the inferior diameter. 2. The Doric, which is next in strength to the Tuscan, has a robust, masculine aspect; its highth is sixteen modules. 3. The Ionic is more slender than the Tuscan and Doric; its highth is eighteen modules. 4. The Corinthian is more delicate in its form and proportions, and enriched with ornaments; its highth should be twenty modules. 5. The Composite is a species of the Corinthian, and of the same highth.
In strictness, the shaft of a column consists of one entire piece; but it is often composed of different pieces, so united, as to have the appearance of one entire piece. It differs in this respect from a pillar, which primarily signifies a pile, composed of small pieces. But the two things are unfortunately confounded; and a column consisting of a single piece of timber is absurdly called a pillar or pile.
2. An erect or elevated structure resembling a column in architecture; as the astronomical column at Paris, a kind of hollow tower with a spiral ascent to the top; gnomonic column, a cylinder on which the hour of the day is indicated by the shadow of a style; military column, among the Romans; triumphal column; etc.
3. Any body pressing perpendicularly on its base, and of the same diameter as its base; as a column of water, air or mercury.
4. In the military art, a large body of troops drawn up in order; as a solid column.
5. Among printers, a division of a page; a perpendicular set of lines separated from another set by a line or blank space. In manuscript books and papers, any separate perpendicular line or row of words or figures. A page may contain two or more columns; and in arithmetic, many columns of figures may be added.
COLUMNAR, a. Formed in columns; having the form of columns; like the shaft of a column; as columnar spar.
COLUMNARISH, a. Somewhat resembling a column.
COLURE, n. In astronomy and geography, the colures are two great circles supposed to intersect each other at right angles, in the poles of the world, one of them passing through the solstitial and the other through the equinoctial points of the ecliptic, viz. Cancer and Capricorn, Aries and Libra, dividing the ecliptic into four equal parts. The points where these lines intersect the ecliptic are called cardinal points.
COM, in composition as a prefix denotes with, to or against.
COMA, n. Lethargy; dozing; a preternatural propensity to sleep; a kind of stupor of diseased persons.
COMA, n.
1. In botany, a species of bracte, terminating the stem of a plant, in a tuft or bush; as in crown-imperial.
2. In astronomy, hairiness; the hairy appearance that surrounds a comet, when the earth or the spectator is between the comet and the sun.
COMART, n. A treaty; article; agreement.
CO-MATE, n. A fellow mate, or companion.
COMATOSE, COMATOUS, a. [See Coma.] Preter-naturally disposed to sleep; drowsy; dozing; without natural sleep; lethargic.
COMB, n. A valley between hills or mountains.
COMB, n. b silent.
1. An instrument, with teeth, for separating, cleansing and adjusting hair, wool, or flax. Also, an instrument of horn or shell, for keeping the hair in its place when dressed.
2. The crest, caruncle or red fleshy tuft, growing on a cocks head; so called from its indentures which resemble the teeth of a comb.
3. The substance in which bees lodge their honey, in small hexagonal cells.
4. A dry measure of four bushels.
COMB, v.t. To separate, disentangle, cleanse, and adjust with a comb, as to comb hair; or to separate, cleanse and lay smooth and straight, as to comb wool.
COMB, v.i. In the language of seamen, to roll over, as the top of a wave; or to break with a white foam.
COMB-BIRD, n. A gallinaceous fowl of Africa, of the size of a turkey-cock.
COMB-BRUSH, n. A brush to clean combs.
COMB-MAKER, n. One whose occupation is to make combs.
COMBAT, v.i.
1. To fight; to struggle or contend with an opposing force.
Pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.
This word is particularly used to denote private contest, or the fighting of two persons in a duel; but it is used in a general sense for the contention of bodies of men, nations, armies, or any species of animals.
After the fall of the republic, the Romans comabated only for the choice of maters.
2. To act in opposition.
It is followed by with before the person, and for before the thing sought.
A combats with B for his right.
COMBAT, v.t.
1. To fight with; to oppose by force; as, to combat an antagonist.
2. To contend against; to oppose; to resist; as, to combat arguments or opinions.
COMBAT, n.
1. A fighting; a struggling to resist, overthrow or conquer; contest by force; engagement; battle; as the combat of armies.
2. A duel; a fighting between two men; formerly, a formal trail of a doubtful cause, or decision of a controversy between two persons, by swords or batons.
COMBATANT, a. Contending; disposed to contend.
COMBATANT, n.
1. A person who combats; any person who fights with another, or in an army, or fleet.
2. A duellist; one who fights or contends in battle, for the decision of a private quarrel or difference; a champion.
3. A person who contends with another in argument, or controversy.
COMBATED, pp. Opposed; resisted.
COMBATER, n. One who fights or contends.
COMBATING, ppr. Striving to resist; fighting; opposing by force or by argument.
COMBED, pp. Separated, cleaned, or dressed with a comb.
COMBER, n. One who combs; one whose occupation is to comb wool, etc.
COMBER, n. Incumbrance.
COMBER, n. A long slender fish with a red back, found in Cornwall, England.
COMBINABLE, a. Capable of combining.
COMBINATE, a. [See Combine.] Espoused; betrothed.
COMBINATION, n.
1. Intimate union, or association of two or more persons or things, by set purpose or agreement, for effecting some object, by joint operation; in a good sense, when the object is laudable; in an ill sense, when it is illegal or iniquitous. It is sometimes equivalent to league, or to conspiracy. We say, a combination of men to overthrow government, or a combination to resist oppression.
2. An assemblage; union of particulars; as a combination of circumstances.
3. Commixture; union of bodies or qualities in a mass or compound; as, to make new compounds by new combinations.
4. Chimical union; union by affinity.
Mix dry acid of tartar with dry carbonate of potash; no combination will ensue, till water is added.
5. In mathematics, the union of numbers or quantities in every possible manner; or the variation or alteration of any number of quantities, letters, sounds, or the like, in all the different manners possible. The number of possible changes or combinations is found by multiplying the terms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 continually into each other. Thus 1x2=2: 2x3=6: 6x4=24: 24x5=120. etc. So the permutations of five quantities amount to 120. The changes that may be rung on twelve bells amount to 479,001,600. And the twenty four letters of the alphabet admit of 62,044,840,173,323,943,936,000 changes or combinations.
COMBINE, v.t.
1. To unite or join two or more things; to link closely together.
Friendship combines the hearts of men.
2. To agree; to accord; to settle by compact.
3. To join words or ideas together; opposed to analyze.
4. To cause to unite; to bring into union or confederacy.
The violence of revolutionary France combined the posers of Europe in opposition.
COMBINE, v.i. To unite, agree or coalesce.
Honor and policy combine to justify the measure.
2. To unite in friendship or design; to league together.
You with your foes combine.
3. To unite by affinity, or natural attraction
Two substances which will not combine of themselves, may be made to combine, by the intervention of a third.
4. To confederate; to unite as nations.
The powers of Europe combined against France.
COMBINED, pp. United closely; associated; leagued; confederated; chimically united.
COMBING, ppr. Separating and adjusting hair, wool, etc.
COMBING, n. Borrowed hair combed over a bald part of the head.
COMBINING, ppr. Uniting closely; joining in purpose; confederating; uniting by chimical affinity.
COMBLESS, a. Without a comb or crest; as a combless cock.
COMBUST, a. When a planet is in conjunction with the sun or apparently very near it, it is said to be combust or in combustion. The distance within which this epithet is applicable to a planet, is said by some writers to be 8 degrees; others say, within the distance of half the suns disk.
COMBUSTIBLE, a. That will take fire and burn; capable of catching fire; thus, wood and coal are combustible bodies.
COMBUSTIBLE, n. A substance that will take fire and burn; a body which, in its rapid union with others, disengages heat and light.
COMBUSTIBLENESS, COMBUSTIBILITY, n. The quality of taking fire and burning; the quality of a substance which admits the action of fire upon it; capacity of being burnt, or combined with oxygen.
The quality of throwing out heat and light, in the rapid combination of its substance with another body.
COMBUSTION, n.
1. The operation of fire on inflammable substances; or according to modern chimistry, the union of an inflammable substance with oxygen, attended with light, and in most instances, with heat. In the combustion of a substance, heat or caloric is disengaged, and oxygen is absorbed.
This theory of Lavoisier being found somewhat defective, the following definition is given. Combustion is the disengagement of heat and light which accompanies chimical combination.
Combustion cannot be regarded as dependent on any peculiar principle or form of matter, but must be considered as a general result of intense chimical action.
2. In popular language, a burning; the process or action of fire in consuming a body, attended with heat, or heat and flame; as the combustion of wood or coal.
3. Conflagration; a great fire. Hence, from the violent agitation of fire or flame,
4. Tumult; violent agitation with hurry and noise; confusion; uproar.
COME, v.i.
1. To move towards; to advance near, in any manner, and from any distance. We say, the men come this way, whether riding or on foot; the wind comes from the west; the ship comes with a fine breeze; light comes from the sun. It is applicable perhaps to every thing susceptible of motion, and is opposed to go.
2. To draw nigh; to approach; to arrive; to be present
Come thou and all thy house into the ark. Genesis 7:1.
All my time will I wait, till my change come. Job 14:14.
When shall I come and appear before God? Psalm 42:2.
Then shall the end come. Matthew 24:14.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done. Matthew 6:10.
The time has come.
3. To advance and arrive at some state or condition; as, the ships came to action; the players came to blows; is it come to this?
His sons come to honor and he knoweth it not. Job 14:21.
I wonder how he came to know what had been done; how did he come by his knowledge? the heir comes into possession of his estate; the man will come in time to abhor the vices of his youth, or he will come to be poor and despicable, or to poverty.
In these and similar phrases, we observe the process or advance is applied to the body or to the mind, indifferently; and to persons or events.
4. To happen or fall out; as, how comes that? Let come what will. Hence when followed by an object or person, with to or on, to befall; to light on.
After all that has come on us for our evil deeds. Ezra 9:13.
All things come alike to all. Ecclesiastes 9:2.
5. To advance or move into view; to appear; as, blood or color comes and goes in the face.
6. To sprout, as plants; to spring. The corn comes or comes up. In the coming or sprouting of malt, as it must not come too little, so it must not come too much. So Bacon uses the word; and this use of it coincides nearly with the sense of 2 Kings 19:26 and in the same chapter inserted in Isaiah 37:27. It is the G. Kiemen, Icelandic kiema, to bud, or germinate.
7. To become.
So came I a widow.
8. To appear or be formed, as butter; to advance or change from cream to butter; a common use of the word; as, the butter comes.
9. Come, in the imperative, is used to excite attention, or to invite to motion or joint action; come, let us go.
This is the heir; come, let us kill him.
When repeated, it sometimes expresses haste; come, come. Sometimes if expresses or introduces rebuke.
As the sense of come is to move, in almost any manner, in its various applications, that sense is modified indefinitely by other words used in connection with it. Thus with words expressing approach, it denotes advancing nearer; with words expressing departure, as from, of, out of, etc., it denotes motion from, etc.
To come about, to happen; to fall out; to come to pass; to arrive. How did these tings come about? So the French venir a bout, to come to the end, that is, to arrive.
To come about, to turn; to change; to come round. The wind will come about from west to east. The ship comes about. It is applied to a change of sentiments.
On better thoughts, and my urged reasons,
They are come about, and won to the true side.
To come again, to return. Genesis 28:21; Leviticus 14:39, 43.
To come after, to follow. Matthew 24:14. Also to come to obtain; as, to come after a book.
To come at, to reach; to arrive within reach of; to gain; to come so near as to be able to take or possess. We prize those most who are hardest to come at. To come at a true knowledge of ourselves.
Also, to come towards, as in attacking.
To come away, to depart from; to leave; to issue from.
To come back, to return.
To come by, to pass near; a popular phrase. Also, to obtain, gain, acquire; that is, to come near, at or close. Examine how you came by all your state.
This is not an irregular or improper use of this word. It is precisely equivalent to possess, to sit by. [See Possess.]
To come down, to descend.
The Lord will come down on mount Sinai. Exodus 19:11.
Also, to be humbled or abased.
Your principalities shall come down. Jeremiah 13:18.
Come down from thy glory. Jeremiah 48:18.
To come for, to come to get or obtain; to come after.
To come forth, to issue or proceed from. Genesis 15:4; Isaiah 11:1; Micah 5:2.
Also, to depart from; to leave. Mark 9:25, 29.
Also, to come abroad. Jeremiah 4:16.
To come from, to depart from to leave. In popular language, this phrase is equivalent to, where is his native place or former place of residence; where did this man, this animal or this plant originate.
To come home, that is, to come to home, or the house; to arrive at the dwelling. Hence, to come close; to press closely; to touch the feelings, interest, or reason.
Come is an intransitive verb, but the participle come is much used with the substantive verb, in the passive form. The end of all flesh is come. I am come, thou art come, he is come, we are come, etc. This use of the substantive verb, for have, is perhaps too well established to be rejected; but have or has should be used in such phrases. In the phrase, come Friday, come Candlemas, there is an ellipsis of certain words, as when Friday shall come.
Come, come, the repetition of come, expresses haste, or exhortation to hasten. Sometimes it introduces a threat.
COME, n. A sprout.
COME-OFF, n. Means of escape; evasion; excuse
We do not want this come-off.
COMEDIAN, n. [See Comedy.]
1. An actor or player in comedy; or a player in general, male or female.
2. A write of comedy.
COMEDY, n. A dramatic composition intended to represent human characters, which are to be imitated in language, dress and manner, by actors on a stage, for the amusement of spectators. The object of comedy is said to be to recommend virtue and make vice ridiculous; but the real effect is amusement.
COMELILY, adv. In a suitable or decent manner.
COMELINESS, n. That which is becoming, fit or suitable, in form or manner. Comeliness of person implies symmetry or due proportion of parts; comeliness of manner implies decorum and propriety. It signifies something less forcible than beauty, less elegant than grace, and less light than prettiness.
A careless comeliness with comely care.
He hath no form nor comeliness. Isaiah 53:2.
COMELY, a.
1. Properly, becoming; suitable: whence, handsome; graceful. Applied to person or form, it denotes symmetry or due proportion, but it expresses less than beautiful or elegant.
I have seen a son of Jesse--comely person. 1 Samuel 16:18.
I will not conceal his comely proportion. Job 41:12.
2. Decent; suitable; proper; becoming; suited to time, place, circumstances or persons.
Praise is comely for the upright. Psalm 33:1.
It is comely that a woman pray to God uncovered? 1 Corinthians 11:13.
O what a world is this, when what is comely envenoms him that bears it.
COMELY, adv. Handsomely; gracefully.
COMER, n. One that comes; one who approaches; one who has arrived and is present.
COMESSATION, n. Feasting or reveling.
COMESTIBLE, a. Eatable.
COMET, n. An opake, spherical, solid body, like a planet, but accompanied with a train of light, performing revolutions about the sun, in an elliptical orbit, having the sun in one of its foci. In its approach to its perihelion, it becomes visible, and after passing its perihelion, it departs into remote regions and disappears. In popular language, comets are tailed, bearded or hairy, but these terms are taken from the appearance of the light which attends the, which, in different positions with respect to the sun, exhibits the form of a t ail or train, a beard, or a border of hair. When the comet is westward of the sun and rises or sets before it, the light appears in the morning like a train beginning at the body of the comet and extending westward and diverging in proportion to its extent. Thus the comet of 1769, [which I saw,] when it rose in the morning, presented a luminous train that extended nearly from the horizon to the meridian. When the comet and the sun are opposite, the earth being between them, the comet is, to the view, immersed in its train and the light appears around its body like a fringe or border of hair. From the train of a comet, this body has obtained the popular name of a blazing star.
Herschel observed several comets, which appeared to have no nucleus, but to be merely collections of vapor condensed about a center.