adj. 1. being in a more prosperous condition. better-off than his classmate [ Narrower terms: rich (vs. poor) ] WordNet 1.5 ]

2. in a more fortunate condition. she would have been better off if she had stuck to her Bible
Syn. -- better off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the launching of a rocket, especially of a spacecraft, under its own power.
Syn. -- rocket firing, rocket launching, shoot. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. to begin ascending from the ground under rocket power; -- of a rocket. [ PJC ]

n. 1. A blowing off steam, water, etc.; -- Also, adj. as, a blow-off cock or pipe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An outburst of temper or excitement. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a scientist or technician, especially one engaged in military research. [ British slang ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. (Theater) a hearty laugh. [ PJC ]

2. (Theater) a joke or gag line that produces hearty laughter. [ PJC ]

3. (Theater) something very successful, especially a box-office hit. [ PJC ]

a. highly successful; superbly well done. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

1. An office where passengers, baggage, etc., are registered for conveyance, as by railway or steamship. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An office where passage tickets are sold. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To kill (a person); to murder; -- used commonly of planned assassination by criminals; as, the mob bumped off all the witnesses. [ Colloq. ] [ PJC ]

a. Cast or laid aside; thrown away; discarded; as, cast-off clothes.
Syn. -- discarded, junked, scrap(prenominal), waste. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] Formerly an allowance of two pounds in every three hundred weight after the tare and tret are subtracted; now used only in a general sense, of small deductions from the original weight. [ Written also clough. ] McCulloch. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the genus comprising the coffee trees.
Syn. -- genus Coffea. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Turk. qahveh, Ar. qahuah wine, coffee, a decoction of berries. Cf. Café. ] 1. The “beans” or “berries” (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and Africa, and also in tropical America. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. The coffee tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There are several species of the coffee tree, as, Coffea Arabica, Coffea canephora, Coffea occidentalis, and Coffea Liberica. The white, fragrant flowers grow in clusters at the root of the leaves, and the fruit is a red or purple cherrylike drupe, with sweet pulp, usually containing two pyrenes, commercially called “beans” or “berries”. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The beverage made by decoction of the roasted and ground berry of the coffee tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have in Turkey a drink called coffee. . . . This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. a cup of coffee{ 3 }, especially one served in a restaurant; as, we each had two donuts and a coffee; three coffees to go. [ PJC ]

5. a social gathering at which coffee is served, with optional other foods or refreshments. [ PJC ]

6. a color ranging from medium brown to dark brown. [ PJC ]

☞ The use of coffee is said to have been introduced into England about 1650, when coffeehouses were opened in Oxford and London. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coffee bug (Zool.), a species of scale insect (Lecanium coffæa), often very injurious to the coffee tree. --
Coffee rat (Zool.) See Musang. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an evergreen shrub of Western U.S. (Rhamnus californicus), bearing small red or black fruits; -- called also the California buckthorn.
Syn. -- California buckthorn, California coffee, Rhamnus californicus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a cake or sweet bread usually glazed after baking, and having added nuts and fruits; it is often served with coffee.
Syn. -- coffee cake. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A house of entertainment, where guests are supplied with coffee and other refreshments, and where men meet for conversation. [ 1913 Webster ]

The coffeehouse must not be dismissed with a cursory mention. It might indeed, at that time, have been not improperly called a most important political institution. . . . The coffeehouses were the chief organs through which the public opinion of the metropolis vented itself. . . . Every man of the upper or middle class went daily to his coffeehouse to learn the news and discuss it. Every coffeehouse had one or more orators, to whose eloquence the crowd listened with admiration, and who soon became what the journalists of our own time have been called -- a fourth estate of the realm. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who keeps a coffeehouse. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A covered pot in which coffee is prepared, or is brought upon the table for drinking. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a tall pot in which coffee is brewed, especially one in which the heating of the water is accomplished by electricity.
Syn. -- coffeepot, coffee pot. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A public room where coffee and other refreshments may be obtained. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. cofre, F. coffre, L. cophinus basket, fr. Gr. &unr_;. Cf. Coffin, n. ] 1. A casket, chest, or trunk; especially, one used for keeping money or other valuables. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Treasure or funds; -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

He would discharge it without any burden to the queen's coffers, for honor sake. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hold, here is half my coffer. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Arch.) A panel deeply recessed in the ceiling of a vault, dome, or portico; a caisson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Fort.) A trench dug in the bottom of a dry moat, and extending across it, to enable the besieged to defend it by a raking fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The chamber of a canal lock; also, a caisson or a cofferdam. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coffer dam. (Engin.) See Cofferdam, in the Vocabulary. --
Coffer fish. (Zool.) See Cowfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To put into a coffer. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining.) To secure from leaking, as a shaft, by ramming clay behind the masonry or timbering. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To form with or in a coffer or coffers; to furnish with a coffer or coffers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A water-tight inclosure, as of piles packed with clay, from which the water is pumped to expose the bottom (of a river, etc.) and permit the laying of foundations, building of piers, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who keeps treasures in a coffer. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Masonry) Rubblework faced with stone. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE., a basket, receptacle, OF. cofin, fr. L. cophinus. See Coffer, n. ] 1. The case in which a dead human body is inclosed for burial. [ 1913 Webster ]

They embalmed him [ Joseph ], and he was put in a coffin. Gen. 1. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A basket. [ Obs. ] Wyclif (matt. xiv. 20). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A casing or crust, or a mold, of pastry, as for a pie. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of the paste a coffin I will rear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A conical paper bag, used by grocers. [ Obs. ] Nares. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Far.) The hollow crust or hoof of a horse's foot, below the coronet, in which is the coffin bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coffin bone, the foot bone of the horse and allied animals, inclosed within the hoof, and corresponding to the third phalanx of the middle finger, or toe, of most mammals. --
Coffin joint, the joint next above the coffin bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Coffined p. pr. & vb. n. Coffining. ] To inclose in, or as in, a coffin. [ 1913 Webster ]

Would'st thou have laughed, had I come coffined home? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Devotion is not coffined in a cell. John Hall (1646). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no coffin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Ar. kafala caravan. ] A gang of negro slaves being driven to market. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Eng. Law) The criminal branch of the Court of King's or Queen's Bench, commonly called the crown side of the court, which takes cognizance of all criminal cases. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. That which cuts off or shortens, as a nearer passage or road. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mach.) (a) The valve gearing or mechanism by which steam is cut off from entering the cylinder of a steam engine after a definite point in a stroke, so as to allow the remainder of the stroke to be made by the expansive force of the steam already let in. See Expansion gear, under Expansion. (b) Any device for stopping or changing a current, as of grain or water in a spout. [ 1913 Webster ]

To decay and perish through excessive moisture. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Doffed p. pr. & vb. n. Doffing. ] [ Do + off. See Do, v. t., 7. ] 1. To put off, as dress; to divest one's self of; hence, figuratively, to put or thrust away; to rid one's self of. [ 1913 Webster ]

And made us doff our easy robes of peace. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

At night, or in the rain,
He dons a surcoat which he doffs at morn. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To strip; to divest; to undress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heaven's King, who doffs himself our flesh to wear. Crashaw. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To put off dress; to take off the hat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Mach.) A revolving cylinder, or a vibrating bar, with teeth, in a carding machine, which doffs, or strips off, the fiber from the cards. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Spinning) A worker who replaces full bobbins by empty ones on the throstle or ring frames. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. a noticeable decline in performance; as, a drop-off in attendance. [ wns=1 ]
Syn. -- slump, falloff, falling off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a steep high face of rock.
Syn. -- cliff. [ wns=2 ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. a change downward; as, there was a sharp drop-off in sales. [ wns=3 ]
Syn. -- decrease, lessening. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. To put in a coffin. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Enfeoffed p. pr. & vb. n. Enfeoffing. ] [ Pref. en- + feoff, fief: cf. LL. infeofare, OF. enfeffer, enfeofer. ] 1. (Law) To give a feud, or right in land, to; to invest with a fief or fee; to invest (any one) with a freehold estate by the process of feoffment. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To give in vassalage; to make subservient. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The king ] enfeoffed himself to popularity. Shak.

n. (Law) (a) The act of enfeoffing. (b) The instrument or deed by which one is invested with the fee of an estate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Proceeding from office or authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ pl. Ex officiis [ L. ] From office; by virtue, or as a consequence, of an office; officially. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. by virtue of an office or position. the head of the department served as an ex-officio member of the board [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Not prescribed by official duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a noticeable decline in performance; as, a falloff in automobile sales.
Syn. -- slump, drop-off, falling off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Remote; as, the far-off distance; troops landing on far-off shores. Cf. Far-off, under Far, adv.
Syn. -- faraway. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. remote in time; as, far-off happier times.
Syn. -- remote, removed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Feoffed p. pr. & vb. n.. Feoffing. ] [ OE. feffen, OF. feffer, fieffer, F. fieffer, fr. fief fief; cf. LL. feoffare, fefare. See Fief. ] (Law) To invest with a fee or feud; to give or grant a corporeal hereditament to; to enfeoff. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) A fief. See Fief. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. feoffé. ] (Law) The person to whom a feoffment is made; the person enfeoffed. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ OF. feoour. ] (Law) One who enfeoffs or grants a fee. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. feoffement, fieffement; cf. LL. feoffamentum. ] (Law) (a) The grant of a feud or fee. (b) (Eng. Law) A gift or conveyance in fee of land or other corporeal hereditaments, accompanied by actual delivery of possession. Burrill.

(c) The instrument or deed by which corporeal hereditaments are conveyed. [ Obs. in the U.S., Rare in Eng. ]

n. [ Cf. F. goffe ill-made, awkward, It. goffo, Sp. gofo, Prov. G. goff a blockhead, Gr. &unr_; stupid. ] A silly clown. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]