n. 1. The act of inquiring or requesting; a petition; solicitation. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The publishing of banns. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + working. ] At work; in action. [ Archaic or Colloq. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of moving backward, or of putting or moving anything backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is behind, and forms the back of, anything, usually giving strength or stability. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Support or aid given to a person or cause. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Bookbinding) The preparation of the back of a book with glue, etc., before putting on the cover. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or process of cooking in an oven, or of drying and hardening by heat or cold. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The quantity baked at once; a batch; as, a baking of bread. [ 1913 Webster ]

Baking powder, a substitute for yeast, usually consisting of an acid, a carbonate, and a little farinaceous matter. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Baseball or basketball or football) skilled in stealing the ball or robbing a batter of a hit; -- used of a Baseball or basketball or football player. a ball-hawking center fielder [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The business of a bank or of a banker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Banking house, an establishment or office in which, or a firm by whom, banking is done. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. more pleasing in appearance especially by reason of conformity to ideals of form and proportion. better-looking than her sister
Syn. -- fine-looking, good-looking, handsome, well-favored, well-favoured. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. Any preparation for making things black; esp. one for giving a black luster to boots and shoes, or to stoves. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or process of making black. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of obstructing, supporting, shaping, or stamping with a block or blocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Blocks used to support (a building, etc.) temporarily. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. drawing blood from the body of another; as, a plague of bloodsucking insects. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. having the nature or habits of a parasite or leech; living off another; -- of plants or persons; as, a bloodsucking blackmailer; bloodsucking lawyers.
Syn. -- parasitic, parasitical, leechlike. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. A literary lady; a female pedant. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ As explained in Boswell's “Life of Dr. Johnson”, this term is derived from the name given to certain meetings held by ladies, in Johnson's time, for conversation with distinguished literary men. An eminent attendant of these assemblies was a Mr. Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings. He was so much distinguished for his conversational powers that his absence at any time was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became common, “We can do nothing without the blue stockings.” Hence these meetings were sportively called bluestocking clubs, and the ladies who attended them, bluestockings. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The American avocet (Recurvirostra Americana). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A coarse woolen fabric, used for floor cloths, to cover carpets, etc.; -- so called from the town of Bocking, in England, where it was first made. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery.
Syn. -- fawning, obsequious, sycophantic, toadyish, ass-kissing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. p. pr. & vb. n. of break, v. i. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Journalism) Still happening or becoming known at the present time; -- used of news reports; as, breaking news; a breaking story. [ PJC ]

n. The act of breaking something.
Syn. -- breakage, break. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of or pertaining to a broker or brokers, or to brokerage. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Redeem from broking pawn the blemished crown. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or process of soaking or boiling cloth in an alkaline liquid in the operation of bleaching; also, the liquid used. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A washing. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The process of breaking up or pulverizing ores. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bucking iron (Mining), a broad-faced hammer, used in bucking or breaking up ores. --
Bucking kier (Manuf.), a large circular boiler, or kier, used in bleaching. --
Bucking stool, a washing block. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Traveling, or working a way, through bushes; pulling by the bushes, as in hauling a boat along the bushy margin of a stream. [ U.S. ] T. Flint. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The crimes or warfare of bushwhackers. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A drinking between meals. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art or occupation of making the finer articles of household furniture. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of making seems tight, as in ships, or of furnishing with calks, as a shoe, or copying, as a drawing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Calking iron, a tool like a chisel, used in calking ships, tightening seams in ironwork, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their left hand does the calking iron guide. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ car + hijacking. ] the forcible taking of a car while the driver is in it; the robber may force the driver out, force the driver to drive while under threat of harm, or be forced to relinquish the controls while also being forced to remain in the car. In the latter two cases, the act also constitutes a kidnapping. [ PJC ]

a. Distressing; worrying; perplexing; corroding; as, carking cares. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the process of sealing cracks and crevices with a filler such as caulk{ 2 }. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. same as caulk{ 2 }, n.. [ PJC ]

a. 1. That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Indistinct in utterance, as the voice of a person affected with strong emotion.

adj. able to think clearly and accurately. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. The act of covering with a cloak; the act of concealing anything. [ 1913 Webster ]

To take heed of their dissemblings and cloakings. Strype. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The material of which of which cloaks are made. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the time taken to traverse a measured course; as, it was a world record clocking. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The noise or call of a brooding hen. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Cockfighting. Ben Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A process of discovering the content of an encoded message or the nature of a code{ 5 }. The method used may be surreptitious, or may use sophisticated mathematical and computational techniques to discover the code. [ PJC ]

n. 1. the practice or manner of preparing food or the food so prepared; cookery.
Syn. -- cookery, cuisine, culinary art. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. the act of cracking something.
Syn. -- fracture, crack. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Chem.) the process of making lower molecular weight hydrocarbons from heavier hydrocarbons in petroleum, by exposure to heat and catalysts. It is used to convert heavier alkanes into gasoline, or to improve the octane number of an alkane mixture. [ PJC ]

adj. same as groovy, sense 1. [ informal ]
Syn. -- bang-up, bully, cool, corking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad(predicate), peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A harsh grating or squeaking sound, or the act of making such a sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

Start not at the creaking of the door. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The hunting of deer on foot, by stealing upon them unawares. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The process of engraving dies. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Naut.) a act of securing an arriving vessel with ropes or anchors.
Syn. -- mooring, tying up, dropping anchor. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Astronautics) the coming together and joining of two space vehicles. The joining usually is accomplished by bringing special connecting devices, the docking ports, into contact, and fastening the ships together by clamping devices. The docking ports are often fitted so as to allow a passage to be opened between the two space vehciles, and thus to permit transfer of materials or personnel between them. [ PJC ]

n. The art, process, or occupation, of making dresses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of one who drinks; the act of imbibing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The practice of partaking to excess of intoxicating liquors. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An entertainment with liquors; a carousal. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Drinking is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, a drinking song, drinking cup, drinking glass, drinking house, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Drinking horn, a drinking vessel made of a horn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. & a., from Duck, v. t. & i. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ducking stool, a stool or chair in which common scolds were formerly tied, and plunged into water, as a punishment. See Cucking stool. The practice of ducking began in the latter part of the 15th century, and prevailed until the early part of the 18th, and occasionally as late as the 19th century. Blackstone. Chambers. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. sufficiently significant to affect the whole world; as, earth-shaking proposals; an earth-shaking event.
Syn. -- world-shaking, world-shattering(predicate), world shattering(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Naut.) See Eking. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Eke, v. t. ] (Shipbuilding) (a) A lengthening or filling piece to make good a deficiency in length. (b) The carved work under the quarter piece at the aft part of the quarter gallery. [ Written also eiking. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. able to communicate in English. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ G. erlkönig, fr. Dan. ellekonge elfking. ] A personification, in German and Scandinavian mythology, of a spirit or natural power supposed to work mischief and ruin, esp. to children. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. pleasing in appearance especially by reason of conformity to ideals of form and proportion; as, a fine-looking woman.[ Narrower terms: beautiful (vs. ugly) ]
Syn. -- good-looking, better-looking, handsome, well-favored, well-favoured. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ a. } Finical; unduly particular; excessively demanding over minor details. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A light covering of reeds, over which the main covering is laid, in thatching houses. [ Prov. Eng. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A prediction; also, a preface. [ Obs. ] Camden. Huloet. [ 1913 Webster ]