Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
HOLYDAY — HOOPING-COUGH
HOLYDAY, n. A day set apart for commemorating some important event in history; a festival intended to celebrate some event deemed auspicious to the welfare of a nation; particularly an anniversary festival, devoted to religious solemnities; as christmas holydays.
1. A day of joy and gayety.
2. A day of exemption from labor; a day of amusement.
HOLYDAY, a. Pertaining to a festival; as a holyday suit of clothes.
HOLY-ONE, n. An appellation of the Supreme Being, by way of emphasis.
1. An appellation of Christ. Isaiah 43:3, 14-15.
2. One separated to the service of God. Deuteronomy 33:8.
HOLY-ROOD DAY, n. A festival observed by Roman Catholics in memory of the exaltation of our Savior’s cross.
HOLY SPIRIT [See Spirit.]
HOLY-THISTLE, n. A plant of the genus Cnicus.
The blessed thistle, Centaurea benedicta.
HOLY-THURSDAY, n. The day on which the ascension of our Savior is commemorated, ten days before Whitsuntide.
HOLY-WEEK, n. The week before Easter, in which the passion of our Savior is commemorated.
HOMAGE, n. [L. homo, man.]
1. In feudal law, the submission, loyalty and service which a tenant promised to his lord or superior, when first admitted to the land which he held of him in fee; or rather the act of the tenant in making this submission, on being invested with the fee. The ceremony of doing homage was thus performed. The tenant, being ungirt and uncovered, kneeled and held up both his hands between those of the lord, who sat before him, and there professed that “he did become his man, from that day forth, of life and limb and earthly honor,” and then received a kiss from his lord.
2. Obeisance; respect paid by external action.
Go, go, with homage yon proud victors meet.
3. Reverence directed to the Supreme Being; reverential worship; devout affection.
HOMAGE, v.t. To pay respect to by external action; to give reverence to; to profess fealty.
HOMAGEABLE, a. Subject to homage.
HOMAGER, n. One who does homage, or holds land of another by homage.‘s Pyrophorus, ignited muriate of lime.
HOME, n. [Gr. a house, a close place, or place or rest.]
1. A dwelling house; the house or place in which one resides. He was not at home.
Then the disciples went away again to their own home. John 20:10.
Home is the sacred refuge of our life.
2. One’s own country. Let affairs at home be well managed by the administration.
3. The place of constant residence; the seat.
Flandria, by plenty, made the home of war.
4. The grave; death; or a future state.
Man goeth to his long home. Ecclesiastes 12:5.
5. The present state of existence.
Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:6.
HOME, a. Close; severe; poignant; as a home thrust.
HOME, adv. [This is merely elliptical; to being omitted.]
1. To one’s own habitation; as in the phrases, go home, come home, bring home, carry home.
2. To one’s own country. Home is opposed to abroad, or in a foreign country. My brother will return home in the first ship from India.
3. Close; closely; to the point; as, this consideration comes home to our interest, that is, it nearly affects it. Drive the nail home, that is, drive it close.
To haul home the top-sail sheets, in seamen’s language, is to draw the bottom of the top-sail close to the yard-arm by means of the sheets.
An anchor is said to come home, when it loosens from the ground by the violence of the wind or current, etc.
HOMEBORN, a. Native; natural.
1. Domestic; not foreign.
HOMEBRED, a. Native; natural; as homebred lusts.
1. Domestic; originating at home; not foreign; as homebred evil.
2. Plain, rude; artless; uncultivated; not polished by travel.
Only to me two homebred youths belong.
HOMEFELT, a. Felt in one’s own breast; inward; private; as homefelt joys or delight.
HOMEKEEPING, a. Staying at home.
HOMELESS, a. Destitute of a home.
HOMELINESS, n. [from homely.] Plainness of features; want of beauty. It expresses less than ugliness.
1. Rudeness; coarseness; as the homeliness of dress or of sentiments.
HOMELOT, n. An inclosure on or near which the mansion house stands.
HOMELY, a. [from home.] Of plain features; not handsome; as a homely face. It expresses less than ugly.
Let time, which makes you homely, make you wise.
1. Plain, like that which is made for common domestic use; rude; coarse; not fine or elegant; as a homely garment; a homely house; homely are.
Now Strephon daily entertains
His Chloe in the homeliest strains.
HOMELY, adv. Plainly; rudely; coarsely; as homely dressed. [Little used.]
HOMELYN, n. A fish.
HOMEMADE, a. Made at home; being of domestic manufacture; made either in private families, or in one’s own country.
HOMER, OMER, CHOMER, n. A Hebrew measure containing the tenth part of an epha, or about six pints.
HOMERIC, a. Pertaining to Homer, the great poet of Greece, or to his poetry; resembling Homer’s verse.
HOMESPEAKING, n. Forcible and efficacious speaking.
HOMESPUN, a. Spun or wrought at home; of domestic manufacture.
1. Not made in foreign countries.
2. Plain; coarse; rude; homely; not elegant; as a homespun English proverb; a homespun author.
HOMESPUN, n. A coarse, unpolished, rustic person.
HOMESTALL, HOMESTEAD, n. The place of a mansion house; the inclosure or ground immediately connected with the mansion.
1. Native seat; original station or place of residence.
We can trace them back to a homestead on the rivers Volga and Ural. [In the U. States, homestead is the word used.]
HOMEWARD, HOMEWARDS, adv. Toward home; toward one’s habitation, or toward one’s native country.
HOMEWARD-BOUND, a. Destined for home; returning from a foreign country to the place where the owner resides; as the homeward-bound fleet. We spoke a brig homeward-bound.
HOMICIDAL, a. [from homicide.] Pertaining to homicide; murderous bloody.
HOMICIDE, n. [L. homicidium; homo, man, and caedo, to strike, to kill.]
1. The killing of one man or human being by another. Homicide is of three kinds, justifiable, excusable, and felonious; justifiable, when it proceeds from unavoidable necessity, without an intention to kill, and without negligence; excusable, when it happens from misadventure, or in self-defense; felonious, when it proceeds from malice, or is done in the prosecution of some unlawful act, or in a sudden passion. Homicide committed with premeditated malice, is murder. Suicide also, or self-murder, is felonious homicide. Homicide comprehends murder and manslaughter.
1. A person who kills another; a manslayer.
HOMILETIC, HOMILETICAL, a. [Gr. to converse in company.]
1. Pertaining to familiar intercourse; social; conversable; companionable.
2. Homiletic theology, a branch of practical theology, which teaches the manner in which ministers of the gospel should adapt their discourses to the capacities of their hearers, and pursue the best methods of instructing them by their doctrines and examples. It is also called pastoral theology.
HOMILIST, n. One that preaches to a congregation.
HOMILY, n. [Gr. to converse in company, a company or assembly.]
A discourse or sermon read or pronounced to an audience; or a plain, familiar discourse on some subject of religion, such as an instructor would deliver to his pupils, or a father to his children.
HOMMOC, n. [I suppose this to be an Indian word.]
A hillock or small eminence of a conical form, sometimes covered with trees.
HOMMONY, n. [Indian.] In America, maiz hulled and broken, but coarse, prepared for food by being mixed with water and boiled.
HOMOGENEAL, HOMOGENEOUS, a. [Gr. like, and kind.] Of the same kind or nature; consisting of similar parts, or of elements of the like nature. Thus we say, homogeneous particles, elements or principles; homogeneous bodies.
HOMOGENEALNESS, HOMOGENEITY, Words not to be encouraged; equivalent to.
HOMOGENEOUSNESS, n. Sameness of kind or nature.
HOMOGENY, n. Joint nature.
HOMOLOGATE, v.t. [Gr. like, and to speak.] To approve; to allow.
HOMOLOGOUS, a. [Gr. similar, and proportion.] Proportional to each other; a term in geometry, applied to the corresponding sides and angles of similar figures; as, homologous angles.
HOMONYMOUS, a. [Gr. like, and name.] Equivocal; ambiguous; that has different significations, or may be applied to different things.
HOMONYMOUSLY, adv. In an equivocal manner.
HOMONYMY, n. [Gr. See supra.] Ambiguity; equivocation.
HOMOPHONY, n. [Gr. like, sound.] Likeness of sound. Among the Greeks, a kind of music performed in unison, in opposition to antiphony.
HOMOTONOUS, a. [Gr. like, and tone.] Equable; of the same tenor; applied to diseases which have a uniform tenor of rise, state, or declension.
HONE, n. A stone of a fine grit, used for sharpening instruments that require a fine edge, and particularly for setting razors. [We never, I believe, call a hone, a whet-stone. The latter is a stone of coarse grit. See the word.]
HONE, v.t. To rub and sharpen on a bone; as, to hone a razor.
HONE, v.i. To pine; to long.
HONE-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Sison.
HONEST, a. on’est. [L. honestus, from honos, honor.]
1. Upright; just; fair in dealing with others; free from trickishness and fraud; acting and having the disposition to act at all times according to justice or correct moral principles; applied to persons.
An honest man’s the noblest work of God.
An honest physician leaves his patient, when he can contribute no farther to his health.
2. Fair; just; equitable; free from fraud; as an honest transaction; an honest transfer of property.
3. Frank; sincere; unreserved; according to truth; as an honest confession.
4. Sincere; proceeding from pure or just principles, or directed to a good object; as an honest inquiry after truth; an honest endeavor; honest views or motives.
5. Fair; good; unimpeached.
Seek seven men of honest report. Acts 6:3.
6. Decent; honorable; or suitable.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Romans 12:17.
7. Chaste; faithful.
Wives may be merry, and yet honest too.
HONEST, v.t. on’est. To adorn; to grace. [Not used.]
HONESTATION, n. Adornment; grace. [Not used.]
HONESTLY, adv. on’estly. Uprightly; justly; with integrity and fairness; as a contract honestly made.
1. With frank sincerity; without fraud or disguise; according to truth; as, to confess honestly one’s real design.
2. By upright means; with upright conduct; as, to live honestly.
3. Chastely; with conjugal loyalty and fidelity.
HONESTY, n. on’esty. [L. honestas.]
1. In principle, an upright disposition; moral rectitude of heart; a disposition to conform to justice and correct moral principles, in all social transactions. In fact, upright conduct; an actual conformity to justice and moral rectitude.
2. Fairness; candor; truth; as the honesty of a narrative.
3. Frank sincerity.
Honesty is chiefly applicable to social transactions, or mutual dealings in the exchange of property.
HONEY, n. hun’y.
1. A sweet vegetable juice, collected by bees from the flowers of plants, and deposited in cells of the comb in hives. Honey, when pure, is of a moderate consistence, of a whitish color, tinged with yellow, sweet to the taste, of an agreeable smell, soluble in water, and becoming vinous by fermentation. In medicine, it is useful as a detergent and aperient. It is supposed to consist of sugar, mucilage, and an acid.
2. Sweetness; lusciousness.
The king hath found
Matter against him, that forever mars
The honey of his language.
3. A word of tenderness; sweetness; sweet one.
HONEY, v.t. To talk fondly. [Little used.]
1. To sweeten.
HONEY-BAG, n. The stomach of a honey-bee.
HONEY-COMB, n. A substance of a firm, close texture, formed by bees into hexagonal cells for repositories of honey, and for the eggs which produce their young.
HONEY-COMBED, a. Having little flaws or cells.
HONEY-DEW, n. A sweet saccharine substance, found on the leaves of trees and other plants in small drops like dew. It is said there are two species; one secreted from the plants, and the other deposited by a small insect called the aphis, or vine-fretter. Bees and ants are said to be fond of honey-dew.
HONEYED, a. Covered with honey.
1. Sweet; as honeyed words.
HONEY-FLOWER, n. A plant of the genus Melianthus.
HONEY-GNAT, n. An insect.
HONEY-GUIDE, n. A species of Cuckoo, found in Africa, which will conduct persons to hives of wild honey.
HONEY-HARVEST, n. Honey collected.
HONEYLESS, a. Destitute of honey.
HONEY-LOCUST, n. A plant, the three-thorned Acacia, of the genus Gleditsia.
HONEY-MOON, HONEY-MONTH, n. The first month after marriage.
HONEY-MOUTHED, a. Soft or smooth in speech.
HONEY-STALK, n. Clover-flower.
HONEY-STONE, n. [See Mellite.]
HONEY-SUCKLE, n. A genus of plants, the Lonicera, of many species, one of which is called woodbine.
HONEY-SWEET, a. Sweet as honey.
HONEY-TONGUED, a. Using soft speech.
HONEY-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Cerinthe.
HONIED, a. [See Honeyed.]
HONOR, n. on’or. [L. honor, honos.]
1. The esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation.
A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country. Matthew 13:57.
2. A testimony of esteem; any expression of respect or of high estimation by words or actions; as the honors of war; military honors; funeral honors; civil honors.
3. Dignity; exalted rank or place; distinction.
I have given thee riches and honor. 1 Kings 3:13.
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Psalm 104:1.
In doing a good thing, there is both honor and pleasure.
4. Reverence; veneration; or any act by which reverence and submission are expressed, as worship paid to the Supreme Being.
5. Reputation; good name; as, his honor is unsullied.
6. True nobleness of mind; magnanimity; dignified respect for character, springing from probity, principle or moral rectitude; a distinguishing trait in the character of good men.
7. An assumed appearance of nobleness; scorn of meanness, springing from the fear of reproach, without regard to principle; as, shall I violate my trust? Forbid it, honor.
8. Any particular virtue much valued; as bravery in men, and chastity in females.
9. Dignity of mien; noble appearance.
Godlike erect, with native honor clad.
10. That which honors; he or that which confers dignity; as, the chancellor is an honor to his profession.
11. Privileges of rank or birth; in the plural.
Restore me to my honors.
12. Civilities paid.
Then here a slave, or if you will, a lord,
To do the honors, and to give the word.
13. That which adorns; ornament; decoration.
The sire then shook the honors of his head.
14. A noble kind of seignory or lordship, held of the king in capite.
On or upon my honor, words accompanying a declaration which pledge one’s honor or reputation for the truth of it. The members of the house of lords in Great Britain are not under oath, but give their opinions on their honor.
Laws of honor, among persons of fashion, signify certain rules by which their social intercourse is regulated, and which are founded on a regard to reputation. These laws require a punctilious attention to decorum in external deportment, but admit of the foulest violations of moral duty.
Court of honor, a court of chivalry; a court of civil and criminal jurisdiction, having power to redress injuries of honor, and to hold pleas respecting matters of arms and deeds of war.
HONOR, v.t. on’or. [L. honoro.]
1. To revere; to respect; to treat with deference and submission, and perform relative duties to.
Honor thy father and thy mother. Exodus 20:12.
2. To reverence; to manifest the highest veneration for, in words and actions; to entertain the most exalted thoughts of; to worship; to adore.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. John 5:23.
3. To dignify; to raise to distinction or notice; to elevate in rank or station; to exalt. Men are sometimes honored with titles and offices, which they do not merit.
Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor. Esther 6:9.
4. To glorify; to render illustrious.
I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host. Exodus 14:4.
5. To treat with due civility and respect in the ordinary intercourse of life. The troops honored the governor with a salute.
6. In commerce, to accept and pay when due; as, to honor a bill of exchange.
HONORABLE, a. [L. honorabilis.]
1. Holding a distinguished rank in society; illustrious or noble.
Sheehem was more honorable than all the house of his father. Genesis 34:19.
Many of them believed; also of honorable women who were Greeks--not a few. Acts 17:12.
2. Possessing a high mind; actuated by principles of honor, or a scrupulous regard to probity, rectitude or reputation. He is an honorable man.
3. Conferring honor, or procured by noble deeds; as honorable wounds.
4. Consistent with honor or reputation. It is not honorable to oppress the weak, or to insult the vanquished.
5. Respected; worthy of respect; regarded with esteem.
Marriage is honorable in all. Hebrews 13:4.
6. Performed or accompanied with marks of honor, or with testimonies of esteem; as an honorable burial.
7. Proceeding from an upright and laudable cause, or directed to a just and proper end; not base; not reproachful; as an honorable motive. Nothing can be honorable which is immoral.
8. Not to be disgraced.
Let her descend; my chambers are honorable.
9. Honest; without hypocrisy or deceit; fair.
His intentions appear to be honorable.
10. An epithet of respect or distinction; as the honorable senate; the honorable gentleman.
11. Becoming men of rank and character, or suited to support men in a station of dignity; as an honorable salary.
HONORABLENESS, n. The state of being honorable; eminence; distinction.
1. Conformity to the principles of honor, probity or moral rectitude; fairness; applied to disposition or to conduct.
HONORABLY, adv. With tokens of honor or respect. The man was honorably received at court.
1. Magnanimously; generously; with a noble spirit or purpose. The prince honorably interposed to prevent a rupture between the nations.
2. Reputably; without reproach.
Why did I not more honorably starve?
HONORARY, a. Conferring honor, or intended merely to confer honor; as an honorary degree; an honorary crown.
1. Possessing a title or place without performing services or receiving a reward; as an honorary member of a society.
HONORARY, n. A lawyer’s fee.
1. The salary of a professor in any art or science.
HONORED, pp. Respected; revered; reverenced; elevated to rank or office; dignified; exalted; glorified; accepted and paid, as a bill of exchange.
HONORER, n. One that honors; one that reveres, reverences or regards with respect.
1. One who exalts, or who confers honors.
HONORING, ppr. Respecting highly; reverencing; exalting; dignifying; conferring marks of esteem; accepting and paying, as a bill.
HONORLESS, a. Destitute of honor; not honored.
HOOD. [L. fraternitas.]
HOOD, n.
1. A covering for the head used by females, and deeper than a bonnet.
2. A covering for the head and shoulders used by monks; a cowl.
3. A covering for a hawk’s head or eyes; used in falconry.
4. Any thing to be drawn over the head to cover it.
5. An ornamental fold that hangs down the back of a graduate to mark his degree.
6. A low wooden porch over the ladder which leads to the steerage of a ship; the upper part of a galley-chimney; the cover of a pump.
HOOD, v.t. To dress in a hood or cowl; to put on a hood.
The friar hooded, and the monarch crowned.
1. To cover; to blind.
I’ll hood my eyes.
2. To cover.
And hood the flames.
HOODMAN BLIND, n. A play in which a person blinded is to catch another and tell his name; blindman’s bluff.
HOODED, pp. Covered with a hood; blinded.
HOOD-WINK, v.t. [hood and wink.] To blind by covering the eyes.
We will blind and hood-wink him.
1. To cover; to hide.
For the prize I’ll bring thee to,
Shall hood-wink this mischance.
2. To deceive by external appearances of disguise; to impose on.
HOOD-WINKED, pp. Blinded; deceived.
HOOD-WINKING, ppr. Blinding the eyes; covering; hiding; deceiving.
HOOF, n.
1. The horny substance that covers or terminates the feet of certain animals, as horses, oxen, sheep, goats, deer, etc.
2. An animal; a beast.
He had not a single hoof of any kind to slaughter.
HOOF, v.i. To walk, as cattle. [Little used.]
HOOF-BOUND, a. A horse is said to be hoof-bound when he has a pain in the fore-feet, occasioned by the dryness and contraction of the horn of the quarters, which straightens the quarters of the heels, and often makes him lame.
HOOFED, a. Furnished with of hoofs.
Of all the hoofed quadrupeds, the horse is the most beautiful.
HOOK, n.
1. A piece of iron or other metal bent into a curve for catching, holding and sustaining any thing; as a hook for catching fish; a teeter-hook; a chimney-hook; a pot-hook, etc.
2. A snare; a trap.
3. A curving instrument for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an instrument for cutting or lopping.
4. That part of a hinge which is fixed or inserted in a post. Whence the phrase, to be off the hooks, to be unhinged, to be disturbed or disordered.
5. A forked timber in a ship, placed on the keel.
6. A catch; an advantage. [Vulgar.]
7. In husbandry, a field sown two years running. [Local.]
By hook and by crook, one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect.
HOOK, v.t. To catch with a hook; as, to hook a fish.
1. To seize and draw, as with a hook.
2. To fasten with a hook.
3. To entrap; to ensnare.
4. To draw by force or artifice.
To hook on, to apply a hook.
HOOK, v.i. To bend; to be curving.
HOOKED, a. Bent into the form of a hook; curvated. The claws of a beast are hooked.
1. Bent; curvated; aquiline; as a hooked nose.
HOOKED, pp. Caught with a hook; fastened with a hook.
HOOKEDNESS, n. A state of being bent like a hook.
HOOKING, ppr. Catching with a hook; fastening with a hook.
HOOKNOSED, a. Having a curvated or aquiline nose.
HOOKY, a. Full of hooks; pertaining to hooks.
HOOP, n. A band of wood or metal used to confine the staves of casks, tubs, etc. or for other similar purposes. Wooden hoops are usually made by splitting an oak or hickory sapling into two parts; but sometimes they are made of thin splints and of other species of wood.
1. A piece of whalebone in the form of a circle or ellipsis, used formerly by females to extend their petticoats; a farthingale.
2. Something resembling a hoop; a ring; any thing circular.
HOOP, v.t. To bind or fasten with hoops; as, to hoop a barrel or puncheon.
1. To clasp; to encircle; to surround.
HOOP, v.i. to shout; to utter a loud cry, or a particular sound by way of call or pursuit.
HOOP, v.t. To drive with a shout or outcry.
1. To call by a shout or hoop.
HOOP, n. A shout; also, a measure, equal to a peck.
1. The hoopoe.