Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

HELL-BROTH — HEPATIZE

HELL-BROTH, n. A composition for infernal purposes.

HELL-CAT, n. A witch; a hag.

HELL-CONFOUNDING, a. Defeating the infernal powers.

HELL-DOOMED, a. Doomed or consigned to hell.

HELL-GOVERNED, a. Directed by hell.

HELL-HAG, n. A hag of hell.

HELL-HATED, a. Abhorred as hell.

HELL-HAUNTED, a. Haunted by the devil.

HELL-HOUND, n. A dog of hell; an agent of hell.

HELL-KITE, n. A kite of an infernal breed.

HELLEBORE, n. [L. helleborus.] The name of several plants of different genera, the most important of which are the black hellebore, Christmas rose, or Christmas flower, of the genus Helleborus, and the white hellebore, of the genus Veratrum. Both are acrid and poisonous, and are used in medicine as evacuants and alternatives.

HELLEBORISM, n. A medicinal preparation of hellebore.

HELLENIAN, HELLENIC, a. Pertaining to the Hellenes, or inhabitants of Greece, so called from Hellas in Greece, or form Hellen.

HELLENISM, n. A phrase in the idiom, genius or construction of the Greek language.

HELLENIST, n. A Grecian Jew; a Jew who used the Greek language.

1. One skilled in the Greek language.

HELLENISTIC, a. Pertaining to the Hellenists. The Hellenistic language was the Greek spoken or used by the Jews who lived in Egypt and other countries, where the Greek language prevailed.

HELLENISTICALLY, adv. According to the Hellenistic dialect.

HELLENIZE, v.i. To use the Greek language.

HELLESPONT, n. A narrow strait between Europe and Asia, now called the Dardanelles; a part of the passage between the Euxine and the Egean sea.

HELLESPONTINE, a. Pertaining to the Hellespont.

HELLIER, n. A tiler or slater. [See Hele.] [Not in use.]

HELLISH, a. Pertaining to hell.

1. Like hell in qualities; infernal; malignant; wicked; detestable.

HELLISHLY, adv. Infernally; with extreme malignity; wickedly; detestably.

HELLISHNESS, n. The qualities of hell or of its inhabitants; extreme wickedness, malignity or impiety.

HELLWARD, adv. Towards hell.

HELLY, a. Having the qualities of hell.

HELM, a termination, denotes defense; as in Sighelm, victorious defense. [See Helmet.]

HELM, n.

1. The instrument by which a ship is steered, consisting of a rudder, a tiller, and in large vessels, a wheel. [See Rudder.]

2. Station of government; the place of direction or management; as, to be at the helm in the administration.

HELM, v.t. To steer; to guide; to direct. [Little used.]

1. To cover with a helmet.

HELM, HELMET, n. Defensive armor for the head; a head-piece; a morion. The helmet is worn by horsemen to defend the head against the broad sword.

1. The part of a coat of arms that bears the crest.

2. The upper part of a retort.

3. In botany, the upper lip of a ringent corol.

HELMED, HELMETED, a. Furnished with a helmet.

HELMINTHIC, a. [Gr. a worm.] Expelling worms.

HELMINTHIC, n. A medicine for expelling worms.

HELMINTHOLOGIC, HELMINTHOLOGICAL, n. [See Helminthology.] Pertaining to worms or vermes, or to their history.

HELMINTHOLOGIST, n. One who is versed in the natural history of vermes.

HELMINTHOLOGY, n. [Gr. a worm, and discourse.] The science or knowledge of vermes; the description and natural history of vermes.

HELMLESS, a. Destitute of a helmet.

1. Without a helm.

HELMSMAN, n. The man at the helm.

HELMWIND, n. A wind in the mountainous parts of England, so called.

HELOTISM, n. Slavery; the condition of the Helots, slaves in Sparta.

HELP, v.t. A regular verb; the old past tense and participle holp and holpen being obsolete.

1. To aid; to assist; to lend strength or means towards effecting a purpose; as, to help a man in his work; to help another in raising a building; to help one to pay his debts; to help the memory or the understanding.

2. To assist; to succor; to lend means of deliverance; as, to help one in distress; to help one out of prison.

3. To relieve; to cure, or to mitigate pain or disease.

Help and ease them, but by no means bemoan them.

The true calamus helps a cough.

Sometimes with of; as, to help one of blindness.

4. To remedy; to change for the better.

Cease to lament for what thou cans’t not help.

5. To prevent; to hinder. The evil approached, and who can help it?

6. To forbear; to avoid.

I cannot help remarking the resemblance between him and our author--

To help forward, to advance by assistance.

To help on, to forward; to promote by aid.

To help out, to aid in delivering from difficulty, or to aid in completing a design.

The god of learning and of light,

Would want a god himself to help him out.

To help over, to enable to surmount; as, to help one over a difficulty.

To help off, to remove by help; as, to help off time. [Unusual.]

To help to, to supply with; to furnish with.

Whom they would help to a kingdom. 1 Maccabees 8:13.

Also, to present to at table; as, to help one to a glass of wine.

HELP, v.i. To lend aid; to contribute strength or means.

A generous present helps to persuade, as well as an agreeable person.

To help out, to lend aid; to bring a supply.

HELP, n. Aid; assistance; strength or means furnished towards promoting an object, or deliverance from difficulty or distress.

Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man. Psalm 60:11.

1. That which gives assistance; he or that which contributes to advance a purpose.

Virtue is a friend and a help to nature.

God is a very present help in time of trouble. Psalm 46:1.

2. Remedy; relief. The evil is done; there is no help for it. There is no help for the man; his disease is incurable.

3. A hired man or woman; a servant.

HELPER, n. One that helps, aids or assists; an assistant; an auxiliary.

1. One that furnishes or administers a remedy.

Compassion--is oftentimes a helper of evils.

2. One that supplies with any thing wanted; with to.

A helper to a husband.

3. A supernumerary servant.

HELPFUL, a. That gives aid or assistance; that furnishes means of promoting an object; useful.

1. Wholesome; salutary; as helpful medicines.

HELPFULNESS, n. Assistance; usefulness.

HELPLESS, a. Without help in one’s self; destitute of the power or means to succor or relieve one’s self. A person is rendered helpless by weakness, or want of means.

An infant is helpless.

1. Destitute of support or assistance.

How shall I then your helpless fame defend?

2. Admitting no help; irremediable. [Not used.]

3. Unsupplied; destitute.

Helpless of all that human wants require. [Not used.]

HELPLESSLY, adv. Without succor.

HELPLESSNESS, n. Want of strength or ability; inability; want of means in one’s self to obtain relief in trouble, or to accomplish one’s purposes or desires.

It is the tendency of sickness to reduce our extravagant self-estimation, by exhibiting our solitary helplessness.

HELTER-SKELTER, cant words denoting hurry and confusion. [L. hilariter and celeriter.]

HELVE, n. helv. The handle of an ax or hatchet.

HELVE, v.t. helv. To furnish with a helve, as an ax.

HELVETIC, a. Designating what pertains to the Helvetii, the inhabitants of the Alps, now Swisserland, or what pertains to the modern states and inhabitants of the Alpine regions; as the Helvetic confederacy; Helvetic states.

HELVIN, n. [From Gr. the sun.] A mineral of a yellowish color, occurring in regular tetrahedrons, with truncated angles.

HEM, n.

1. The border of a garment, doubled and sewed to strengthen it and prevent the raveling of the threads.

2. Edge; border. Matthew 9:20.

3. A particular sound of the human voice, expressed by the word hem.

HEM, v.t. To form a hem or border; to fold and sew down the edge of cloth to strengthen it.

1. To border; to edge.

All the skirt about

Was hemm’d with golden fringe.

To hem in, to inclose and confine; to surround; to environ. The troops were hemmed in by the enemy. Sometimes perhaps to hem about or round, may be used in a like sense.

HEM, v.i. To make the sound expressed by the word hem.

HEMACHATE, n. [Gr. blood, and agate.] A species of agate, of a blood color.

HEMATIN, n. [Gr. blood.] The coloring principle of logwood, of a red color and bitterish taste.

HEMATITE, n. [Gr. from blood.] The name of two ores of iron, the red hematite, and the brown hematite. They are both of a fibrous structure, and the fibers, though sometimes nearly parallel, usually diverge, or even radiate from a center. They rarely occur amorphous, but almost always in concretions, reniform, globular, botryoidal, stalactitic, etc. The red hematite is a variety of the red oxyd; its streak and powder are always nearly blood red. The brown hematite is a variety of the brown oxyd or hydrate of iron; its streak and powder are always of a brownish yellow. The red hematite is also called blood-stone.

HEMATITIC, a. Pertaining to hematite, or resembling it.

HEMATOPE, n. The sea-pye, a fowl of the grallic order, that feeds on shell-fish.

HEMEROBAPTIST, n. [Gr. day, and to wash.] One of a sect among the Jews who bathed every day.

HEMI, in composition, from Gr. which signifies half, like demi and semi.

HEMICRANY, n. [Gr. half and the skull.] A pain that affects only one side of the head.

HEMICYCLE, n. [Gr.] A half circle; more generally called a semicircle.

HEMIDITONE, n. In Greek music, the lesser third.

HEMINA, n. [L.] In Roman antiquity, a measure containing half a sextary, and according to Arbuthnot, about half a pint English wine measure.

1. In medicine, a measure equal to about ten ounces.

HEMIPLEGY, n. [Gr. half, and a stroke, to strike.] A palsy that affects one half of the body; a paralytic affection on one side of the human frame.

HEMIPTER, HEMIPTERA, n. [Gr. half, and a wing.] The hemipters form an order of insects with the upper wings usually half crustaceous, and half membranaceous, and incumbent on each other; as the cimex.

HEMIPTERAL, a. Having the upper wings half crustaceous and half membranaceous.

HEMISPHERE, n. [Gr.] A half sphere; one half of a sphere or globe, when divided by a plane passing through its center. In astronomy, one half the mundane sphere. The equator divides the sphere into two equal parts. That on the north is called the northern hemisphere; the other, the southern. So the horizon divides the sphere into the upper and lower hemispheres. Hemisphere is also used for a map or projection of half the terrestrial or celestial sphere, and is then often called planisphere.

1. A map or projection of half the terrestrial globe.

HEMISPHERICICAL, a. Containing half a sphere or globe; as a hemispheric figure or form; a hemispherical body.

HEMISTICH, n. [Gr.] Half a poetic verse, or a verse not completed.

HEMISTICHAL, a. Pertaining to a hemistich; denoting a division of the verse.

HEMITONE, n. [Gr.] A half tone in music; now called a semitone.

HEMITROPE, a. [Gr. half, and to turn.] Half-turned; a hemitrope crystal is one in which one segment is turned through half the circumference of a circle. The word is used also as a noun.

HEMLOCK, n.

1. A plant of the genus Conium, whose leaves and root are poisonous. Also, the Cicuta maculata.

2. A tree of the genus Pinus, an evergreen.

3. A poison, an infusion or decoction of the poisonous plant.

Popular liberty might then have escaped the indelible reproach of decreeing to the same citizens the hemlock on one day, and statues on the next.

HEMOPTYSIS, HEMOPTOE, a. [Gr. blood, and a spitting.] A spitting of blood.

HEMORRHAGE, HEMORRHAGY, n. [Gr. blood, and to burst.] A flux of blood, proceeding from the rupture of a blood-vessel, or some other cause. The ancients confined the word to a discharge of blood from the nose; but in modern use, it is applied to a flux from the nose, lungs, intestines, etc.

HEMORRHAGIC, a. Pertaining to a flux of blood; consisting in hemorrhage.

HEMORRHOIDS, n. [Gr. blood, and a flowing.] A discharge of blood from the vessels of the anus; the piles; in Scripture, emerods.

The term is also applied to tumors formed by a morbid dilatation of the hemorrhoidal veins. When they do not discharge blood, they are called blind piles; when they occasionally emit blood, bleeding or open piles.

HEMORRHOIDAL, a. Pertaining to the hemorrhoids; as the hemorrhoidal vessels.

1. Consisting in a flux of blood from the vessels of the anus.

HEMP, n. [L. cannabis.]

1. A fibrous plant constituting the genus Cannabis, whose skin or bark is used for cloth and cordage. Hence canvas, the coarse strong cloth used for sails.

2. The skin or rind of the plant, prepared for spinning. Large quantities of hemp are exported from Russia.

HEMP-AGRIMONY, n. A plant, a species of Eupatorium.

HEMPEN, a. hemp’n. Made of hemp; as a hempen cord.

HEMPY, a. Like hemp. [Unusual.]

HEN, n. The female of any kind of fowl; but it is particularly applied to the female of the domestic fowl of the gallinaceous kind, or as sometimes called, the barn-door fowl.

HENBANE, n. [hen and bane.] A plant, the Hyoscyamus, of several species. The roots, leaves and seeds are poisonous.

HENBIT, n. A plant, the ivy-leaved speedwell.

HEN-COOP, n. A coop or cage for fowls.

HEN-DRIVER, n. A kind of hawk.

HEN-HARM, HEN-HARRIER, n. A species of kite, pygargus.

HEN-HEARTED, a. Cowardly; timid; dastardly.

HENHOUSE, n. A house or shelter for fowls.

HENPECKED, a. Governed by the wife.

HENROOST, n. A place where poultry rest at night.

HENSFEET, n. A plant, hedge-fumitory.

HENCE, adv. hens.

1. From this place.

Arise, let us go hence. John 14:31.

I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles. Acts 22:21.

2. From this time; in the future; as a week hence; a year hence.

3. From this cause or reason, noting a consequence, inference or deduction from something just before stated.

Hence perhaps it is, that Solomon calls the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom.

It sometimes denotes an inference or consequence, resulting from something that follows.

Whence come wars and fightings among you?

Come they not hence, even from your lusts-- James 4:1.

4. From this source or original.

All other faces borrowed hence--

Hence signifies from this, and from before hence is not strictly correct. But from hence is so well established by custom, that it may not be practicable to correct the use of the phrase.

Hence is used elliptically and imperatively, for go hence; depart hence; away; be gone.

Hence, with your little ones.

Hence, as a verb, to send off, as used by Sidney, is improper.

HENCEFORTH, adv. hens’forth. From this time forward.

I never from thy side henceforth will stray.

HENCEFORWARD, adv. hensfor’ward. From this time forward; henceforth.

HENCHMAN, HENCHBOY, n. A page; a servant.

HEND, HENT, v.t. To seize; to lay hold on.

1. To crowd; to press on.

HEND, HENDY, a. Gentle.

HENDECAGON, n. [Gr. eleven, and an angle.] In geometry, a figure of eleven sides, and as many angles.

HENDECASYLLABLE, n. [Gr.] A metrical line of eleven syllables.

HENDIADIS, n. [Gr.] A figure, when two nouns are used instead of a noun and an adjective.

HEPAR, n. [L. hepar, the liver.] A combination of sulphur with an alkali was formerly called by chimists hepar sulphuris, liver of sulphur, from its brown red color. The term has been applied to all combinations of alkali or earth with sulphur or phosphorus.

The hepars are by modern chimists called sulphurets.

HEPATIC, HEPATICAL, a. [L. hepaticus; Gr. the liver.] Pertaining to the liver; as hepatic gall; hepatic pain; hepatic artery; hepatic flux.

Hepatic air or gas, is a fetid vapor or elastic fluid emitted from combinations of sulphur with alkalies, earths and metals.

This species of air is now called sulphurated hydrogen gas.

Hepatic mercurial ore, a mineral of a reddish, or reddish brown, or dark red color. Its streak is dark red, and has some luster. It occurs in compact masses, with an even or fine grained fracture.

Hepatic pyrite, hepatic sulphuret of iron. During the process of decomposition of this ore, by which the sulphur is more or less disengaged, the pyrite is converted, either wholly or in part, into a compact oxyd of iron of a liver brown color; hence its name.

HEPATITE, n. A gem or mineral that takes its name from the liver. Plin. L. 37.11.

Hepatite is a name given to the fetid sulphate of baryte. It sometimes occurs in globular masses, and is either compact or of a foliated structure. By friction or the application of heat, it exhales a fetid odor, like that of sulphurated hydrogen.

HEPATIZE, v.t. To impregnate with sulphurated hydrogen gas.