8 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Virtue \Vir"tue\ (?; 135), n. [OE. vertu, F. vertu, L. virtus
strength, courage, excellence, virtue, fr. vir a man. See
{Virile}, and cf. {Virtu}.]
1. Manly strength or courage; bravery; daring; spirit; valor.
[Obs.] --Shak.
Built too strong For force or virtue ever to expugn.
--Chapman.
2. Active quality or power; capacity or power adequate to the
production of a given effect; energy; strength; potency;
efficacy; as, the virtue of a medicine.
Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue
had gone out of him, turned him about. --Mark v. 30.
A man was driven to depend for his security against
misunderstanding, upon the pure virtue of his
syntax. --De Quincey.
The virtue of his midnight agony. --Keble.
3. Energy or influence operating without contact of the
material or sensible substance.
She moves the body which she doth possess, Yet no
part toucheth, but by virtue's touch. --Sir. J.
Davies.
4. Excellence; value; merit; meritoriousness; worth.
I made virtue of necessity. --Chaucer.
In the Greek poets, . . . the economy of poems is
better observed than in Terence, who thought the
sole grace and virtue of their fable the sticking in
of sentences. --B. Jonson.
5. Specifically, moral excellence; integrity of character;
purity of soul; performance of duty.
Virtue only makes our bliss below. --Pope.
If there's Power above us, And that there is all
nature cries aloud Through all her works, he must
delight in virtue. --Addison.
6. A particular moral excellence; as, the virtue of
temperance, of charity, etc. ``The very virtue of
compassion.'' --Shak. ``Remember all his virtues.''
--Addison.
7. Specifically: Chastity; purity; especially, the chastity
of women; virginity.
H. I believe the girl has virtue. M. And if she has,
I should be the last man in the world to attempt to
corrupt it. --Goldsmith.
8. pl. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.
--Milton.
{Cardinal virtues}. See under {Cardinal}, a.
{In}, or {By}, {virtue of}, through the force of; by
authority of. ``He used to travel through Greece by virtue
of this fable, which procured him reception in all the
towns.'' --Addison. ``This they shall attain, partly in
virtue of the promise made by God, and partly in virtue of
piety.'' --Atterbury.
{Theological virtues}, the three virtues, faith, hope, and
charity. See --1 Cor. xiii. 13.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
(a) To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare;
as, to set (that is, to hone) a razor; to set a saw.
Tables for to sette, and beddes make. --Chaucer.
(b) To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to
set the sails of a ship.
(c) To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the
keynote; as, to set a psalm. --Fielding.
(d) To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to
replace; as, to set a broken bone.
(e) To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a
watch or a clock.
(f) (Masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the
blocks of cut stone in a structure.
6. To stake at play; to wager; to risk.
I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the
hazard of the die. --Shak.
7. To fit with music; to adapt, as words to notes; to prepare
for singing.
Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.
--Dryden.
8. To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a
time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse.
9. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to
variegate with objects placed here and there.
High on their heads, with jewels richly set, Each
lady wore a radiant coronet. --Dryden.
Pastoral dales thin set with modern farms.
--Wordsworth.
10. To value; to rate; -- with at.
Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have
a son set your decrees at naught. --Shak.
I do not set my life at a pin's fee. --Shak.
11. To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other
game; -- said of hunting dogs.
12. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to
assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be
learned.
13. To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill. [Scot.]
14. (Print.) To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.;
as, to set type; to set a page.
{To set abroach}. See {Abroach}. [Obs.] --Shak.
{To set against}, to oppose; to set in comparison with, or to
oppose to, as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one
thing against another.
{To set agoing}, to cause to move.
{To set apart}, to separate to a particular use; to separate
from the rest; to reserve.
{To set a saw}, to bend each tooth a little, every alternate
one being bent to one side, and the intermediate ones to
the other side, so that the opening made by the saw may be
a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent
the saw from sticking.
{To set aside}.
(a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to
neglect; to reject; to annul.
Setting aside all other considerations, I will
endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that.
--Tillotson.
(b) To set apart; to reserve; as, to set aside part of
one's income.
(c) (Law) See under {Aside}.
{To set at defiance}, to defy.
{To set at ease}, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the
heart at ease.
{To set at naught}, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise.
``Ye have set at naught all my counsel.'' --Prov. i. 25.
{To set a} {trap, snare, or gin}, to put it in a proper
condition or position to catch prey; hence, to lay a plan
to deceive and draw another into one's power.
{To set at work}, or {To set to work}.
(a) To cause to enter on work or action, or to direct how
tu enter on work.
(b) To apply one's self; -- used reflexively.
{To set before}.
(a) To bring out to view before; to exhibit.
(b) To propose for choice to; to offer to.
{To set by}.
(a) To set apart or on one side; to reject.
(b) To attach the value of (anything) to. ``I set not a
straw by thy dreamings.'' --Chaucer.
{To set by the compass}, to observe and note the bearing or
situation of by the compass.
{To set case}, to suppose; to assume. Cf. {Put case}, under
{Put}, v. t. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
{To set down}.
(a) To enter in writing; to register.
Some rules were to be set down for the
government of the army. --Clarendon.
(b) To fix; to establish; to ordain.
This law we may name eternal, being that order
which God . . . hath set down with himself, for
himself to do all things by. --Hooker.
(c) To humiliate.
{To set eyes on}, to see; to behold; to fasten the eyes on.
{To set fire to}, or {To set on fire}, to communicate fire
to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to
irritate.
{To set flying} (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc.,
instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; --
said of a sail.
{To set forth}.
(a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt;
to display.
(b) To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. --Waller.
(c) To send out; to prepare and send. [Obs.]
The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty
galleys, set forth by the Venetians. --Knolles.
{To set forward}.
(a) To cause to advance.
(b) To promote.
{To set free}, to release from confinement, imprisonment, or
bondage; to liberate; to emancipate.
{To set in}, to put in the way; to begin; to give a start to.
[Obs.]
If you please to assist and set me in, I will
recollect myself. --Collier.
{To set in order}, to adjust or arrange; to reduce to method.
``The rest will I set in order when I come.'' --1 Cor. xi.
34.
{To set milk}.
(a) To expose it in open dishes in order that the cream
may rise to the surface.
(b) To cause it to become curdled as by the action of
rennet. See 4
(e) .
{To set} {much, or little}, {by}, to care much, or little,
for.
{To set of}, to value; to set by. [Obs.] ``I set not an haw
of his proverbs.'' --Chaucer.
{To set off}.
(a) To separate from a whole; to assign to a particular
purpose; to portion off; as, to set off a portion of
an estate.
(b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish.
They . . . set off the worst faces with the
best airs. --Addison.
(c) To give a flattering description of.
{To set off against}, to place against as an equivalent; as,
to set off one man's services against another's.
{To set} {on or upon}.
(a) To incite; to instigate. ``Thou, traitor, hast set on
thy wife to this.'' --Shak.
(b) To employ, as in a task. `` Set on thy wife to
observe.'' --Shak.
(c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's
heart or affections on some object. See definition 2,
above.
{To set one's cap for}. See under {Cap}, n.
{To set one's self against}, to place one's self in a state
of enmity or opposition to.
{To set one's teeth}, to press them together tightly.
{To set on foot}, to set going; to put in motion; to start.
{To set out}.
(a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to
set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an
estate; to set out the widow's thirds.
(b) To publish, as a proclamation. [Obs.]
(c) To adorn; to embellish.
An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with
jewels, nothing can become. --Dryden.
(d) To raise, equip, and send forth; to furnish. [R.]
The Venetians pretend they could set out, in
case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war.
--Addison.
(e) To show; to display; to recommend; to set off.
I could set out that best side of Luther.
--Atterbury.
(f) To show; to prove. [R.] ``Those very reasons set out
how heinous his sin was.'' --Atterbury.
(g) (Law) To recite; to state at large.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[=i], big, near to, by,
of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
D. bij, OHG. b[=i], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`.
E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref.
{Be-}.]
1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from;
close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. [1913
Webster]
By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them
both. --Milton.
2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.
By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.
3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
of; past; as, to go by a church.
4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
feet by forty.
5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].
6. With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with
aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city
is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take
by force.
Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency,
belong, more or less closely, most of the following
uses of the word:
(a) It points out the author and producer; as,
``Waverley'', a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by
Canova; a sonata by Beethoven.
(b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or
thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by
all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a
Christian; no, by Heaven.
(c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of;
after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his
account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a
model to build by.
(d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion
of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth
by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen,
meat by the pound; to board by the year.
(e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or
deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished,
it indicates the measure of increase or diminution;
as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen
by a third.
(f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the
course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night.
(g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in
expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had
risen; he will be here by two o'clock.
Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to,
or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east,
i.e., a point towards the east from the north;
northeast by east,