‖n. [ L., he undertook, pret. of L. assumere. See Assume. ] (Law) (a) A promise or undertaking, founded on a consideration. This promise may be oral or in writing not under seal. It may be express or implied. (b) An action to recover damages for a breach or nonperformance of a contract or promise, express or implied, oral or in writing not under seal. Common or indebitatus assumpsit is brought for the most part on an implied promise. Special assumpsit is founded on an express promise or undertaking. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a folding stool. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A game in which questions are asked for the purpose of enabling the questioners to discover a word or thing previously selected by two persons who answer the questions; -- so called because the players take sides in two “clumps” or groups, the “clump” which guesses the word winning the game. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. kompo`s elegant, pretty + gna`qos jaw. ] (Zool.) A genus of carnivorous Dinosauria found in the Jurassic formation with a slender body, and remarkable for having several birdlike features. It reached a length of 30 inches when adult. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

‖n. [ F., fr. contre (L. conta) + temps time, fr. L. tempus. ] An unexpected and untoward accident; something inopportune or embarrassing; a hitch. [ 1913 Webster ]

In this unhappy contretemps. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See Deemster. ] 1. A deemster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (O. Scots Law) An officer whose duty it was to announce the doom or sentence pronounced by the court. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. a gloomy mental state; same as 2nd dump{ 1 }; -- used mostly in the phrase “in the dumps”. [ PJC ]

‖n. [ NL., from Gr. &unr_; a shining forth, fr. &unr_; to shine forth; &unr_; out + &unr_; to shine. ] (Med.) A fancied perception of flashes of light, a symptom of epilepsy; hence, epilepsy itself; convulsions. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term is generally restricted to a convulsive affection attending pregnancy and parturition, and to infantile convulsions. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. (Med.) Same as Eclampsia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ For glimse, from the root of glimmer. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sudden flash; transient luster. [ 1913 Webster ]

LIght as the lightning glimpse they ran. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A short, hurried view; a transitory or fragmentary perception; a quick sight. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here hid by shrub wood, there by glimpses seen. S. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A faint idea; an inkling. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Glimpsed p. pr. & vb. n. Glimpsing. ] to appear by glimpses; to catch glimpses. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To catch a glimpse of; to see by glimpses; to have a short or hurried view of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some glimpsing and no perfect sight. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as gooseflesh. [ PJC ]

v. t. 1. To start (the engine of a motor vehicle) using a temporary connection to supply electrical power from another vehicle or another source of current; -- an emergency procedure used when a vehicle's own battery has insufficient power to start the vehicle normally. Cables used to transmit electrical current from one vehicle to another for the purpose of jump-starting are called jumper cables. [ PJC ]

2. To provide a speedy start to (an activity) using the assistance of some external impetus; to re-energize (an activity proceeding sluggishly); -- accomplished by application of a stimulus not normally used in the activity. [ Figurative ] [ PJC ]

n. 1. a one-piece coverall used by parachutists while jumping from an airplane. [ PJC ]

2. a one-piece garment resembling a jumpsuit{ 1 }, having a shirt or blouse attached to trousers or shorts. [ PJC ]

n. pl. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] (Bot.) The long flower stems of the ribwort plantain (Plantago Lanceolata). Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a protective ornamental covering used to screen the light bulb in a lamp from direct view. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A mollusklike marine animal with bivalve shell having a pair of arms bearing tentacles for capturing food, found worldwide.
Syn. -- brachiopod. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } a. [ See Limp, a., and cf. W. llymsi having a fickle motion, weak. Cf. Flimsy. ] Limp; flexible; flimsy. [ Local, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The lumpfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A natural family of rust fungi.
Syn. -- family Melampsoraceae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Metempsychosed p. pr. & vb. n. Metempsychosing ] [ See Metempsychosis. ] To translate or transfer, as the soul, from one body to another. [ R. ] Peacham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;; &unr_; beyond, over + &unr_; to animate; &unr_; in + &unr_; soul. See Psychology. ] The passage of the soul, as an immortal essence, at the death of the animal body it had inhabited, into another living body, whether of a brute or a human being; transmigration of souls. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prov. E. mump to be sulky. Cf. Mump, Mumble, and Mum. ] 1. pl. Sullenness; silent displeasure; the sulks. Skinner. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ Prob. so called from the patient's appearance. ] (Med.) A specific infectious febrile disorder characterized by a nonsuppurative inflammation of the parotid glands, and sometimes causing inflammation of the testes or ovaries; also called epidemic parotitis or infectious parotitis. It is caused by infection with a paramyxovirus. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

‖ [ L., he did not undertake. ] (Law) The general plea or denial in an action of assumpsit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Numb. ] A dolt; a blockhead. [ Obs. ] Bp. Parker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. palimpsestus, Gr. pali`mpshstos scratched or scraped again, pali`mpshston a palimpsest; pa`lin again + psh^n to rub, rub away: cf. F. palimpseste. ] A parchment which has been written upon twice, the first writing having been erased to make place for the second. The erasures of ancient writings were usually carried on in monasteries, to allow the production of ecclesiastical texts, such as copies of church services and lives of the saints. The difficulty of recovering the original text varied with the process used to prepare the parchment for a fresh writing; the original texts on parchments which had been washed with lime-water and dried were easily recovered by a chemical process, but those erased by scraping the parchment and bleaching are difficult to interpret. Most of the manuscripts underlying the palimpsests that have been revived are fragmentary, but some are of great historical value. One Syriac version of the Four Gospels was discovered in 1895 in St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai by Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis. See also the notes below. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Palimpsest is the name given to ancient parchments which have been used more than once for writing purposes. The conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in the 7th century cut off from Europe the papyrus which was used to write on, and parchment could be had only in limited quantities. So through the dark ages, old manuscripts were used, after removing the first writing upon them. Sometimes the writing was washed off with a sponge, and the parchment smoothed with pumice stone; at other times the letters were scraped away with a sharp blade. Nearly all ancient manuscripts, however, were written with an ink which could not be entirely removed, and traces of a former writing could be seen beneath the new copy. In modern times there have been various efforts to restore these ancient writings by some chemical treatment. In this way have been found copies of the Republic of Cicero, the Institutes of Gaius, a part of the Epistle to the Romans, and other parts of the Old and New Testaments. The Republic of Cicero was covered by a commentary on the Psalms, written by St. Augustine. Student's Cyclopedia, 1897. [ PJC ]

☞ In an auction on November 6, 1998, a 12th-century palimpsest of one of Archimedes' works was sold for 2 million dollars. The 174-page book, the oldest known copy of Archimedes' work, had been owned by a French family since the 1920s, and was sold by Christie's auction house in New York to an unidentified private American collector. The palimpsest volume includes notes and calculations for two of the Greek mathematician's most famous theories, On Floating Bodies and Method of Mechanical Theorems. A Christie's spokesperson said the buyer, who was not identified, indicated that the work would be made available to scholars. Also bidding was the Greek government, which claimed the work was stolen from a library in the former Constantinople, now Istanbul, and belonged to Greece. According to the Athens News Agency, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem took Christie's to court claiming that the manuscript was part of its library, which had been transferred to Istanbul and later to Athens for safekeeping. The court, however, ruled that Christie's had the right to auction the manuscript for a French family, which claimed to own it for the last 75 years since one of the family's ancestors bought it from Orthodox monks in Istanbul. According to the court's ruling, French law applied in the case, under which a person who holds any object for more than 30 years becomes its rightful owner. [ PJC ]

n. The office, occupation, or persom of a pimp. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A seamster. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A seamstress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two hundred sepstress were employed to make me shirts. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Seamstressy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. & F., fr. L. tempus. See Temporal of time. ] Time. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Temse. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]