[ All + four (cards). ] A game at cards, called “High, Low, Jack, and the Game.” [ 1913 Webster ]

[ formerly, All` four".] All four legs of a quadruped; or the two legs and two arms of a person. [1913 Webster]

To be,
go, or
run,
on all fours (Fig.), to be on the same footing; to correspond (with) exactly; to be alike in all the circumstances to be considered. “This example is on all fours with the other.” “No simile can go on all fours.” Macaulay. [1913 Webster]

n. [ See Bargeboard. ] (Arch.) A part of the tiling which projects beyond the principal rafters, in buildings where there is a gable. Gwilt. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Arch.) The finishing course of a wall showing above a cornice. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. bourse purse, exchange, LL. bursa, fr. Gr.&unr_; skin, hide, of which a purse was usually made. Cf. Purse, Burse. ] An exchange, or place where merchants, bankers, etc., meet for business at certain hours; esp., the Stock Exchange of Paris. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. same as colors. [ Brit. ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. concours, L. concursus, fr. concurrere to run together. See Concur. ] 1. A moving, flowing, or running together; confluence. [ 1913 Webster ]

The good frame of the universe was not the product of chance or fortuitous concourse of particles of matter. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An assembly; a gathering formed by a voluntary or spontaneous moving and meeting in one place. [ 1913 Webster ]

Amidst the concourse were to be seen the noble ladies of Milan, in gay, fantastic cars, shining in silk brocade. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The place or point of meeting or junction of two bodies. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The drop will begin to move toward the concourse of the glasses. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An open space where several roads or paths meet; esp. an open space in a park where several roads meet. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Concurrence; cooperation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The divine providence is wont to afford its concourse to such proceeding. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. cours, course, L. cursus, fr. currere to run. See Current. ] 1. The act of moving from one point to another; progress; passage. [ 1913 Webster ]

And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais. Acts xxi. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The ground or path traversed; track; way. [ 1913 Webster ]

The same horse also run the round course at Newmarket. Pennant. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Motion, considered as to its general or resultant direction or to its goal; line progress or advance. [ 1913 Webster ]

A light by which the Argive squadron steers
Their silent course to Ilium's well known shore. Dennham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Westward the course of empire takes its way. Berkeley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Progress from point to point without change of direction; any part of a progress from one place to another, which is in a straight line, or on one direction; as, a ship in a long voyage makes many courses; a course measured by a surveyor between two stations; also, a progress without interruption or rest; a heat; as, one course of a race. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Motion considered with reference to manner; or derly progress; procedure in a certain line of thought or action; as, the course of an argument. [ 1913 Webster ]

The course of true love never did run smooth. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Customary or established sequence of events; recurrence of events according to natural laws. [ 1913 Webster ]

By course of nature and of law. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

Day and night,
Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost,
Shall hold their course. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Method of procedure; manner or way of conducting; conduct; behavior. [ 1913 Webster ]

My lord of York commends the plot and the general course of the action. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

By perseverance in the course prescribed. Wodsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

You hold your course without remorse. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A series of motions or acts arranged in order; a succession of acts or practices connectedly followed; as, a course of medicine; a course of lectures on chemistry. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn. [ 1913 Webster ]

He appointed . . . the courses of the priests 2 Chron. viii. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. That part of a meal served at one time, with its accompaniments. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ Goldsmith ] wore fine clothes, gave dinners of several courses, paid court to venal beauties. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Arch.) A continuous level range of brick or stones of the same height throughout the face or faces of a building. Gwilt. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Naut.) The lowest sail on any mast of a square-rigged vessel; as, the fore course, main course, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. pl. (Physiol.) The menses. [ 1913 Webster ]

In course, in regular succession. --
Of course, by consequence; as a matter of course; in regular or natural order. --
In the course of, at same time or times during. “In the course of human events.” T. Jefferson.

Syn. -- Way; road; route; passage; race; series; succession; manner; method; mode; career; progress. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Coursed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Coursing. ] 1. To run, hunt, or chase after; to follow hard upon; to pursue. [ 1913 Webster ]

We coursed him at the heels. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cause to chase after or pursue game; as, to course greyhounds after deer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To run through or over. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bounding steed courses the dusty plain. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To run as in a race, or in hunting; to pursue the sport of coursing; as, the sportsmen coursed over the flats of Lancashire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move with speed; to race; as, the blood courses through the veins. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Hunted; as, a coursed hare. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Arranged in courses; as, coursed masonry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. coursier. ] 1. One who courses or hunts. [ 1913 Webster ]

leash is a leathern thong by which . . . a courser leads his greyhound. Hanmer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A swift or spirited horse; a racer or a war horse; a charger. [ Poetic. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) A grallatorial bird of Europe (Cursorius cursor), remarkable for its speed in running. Sometimes, in a wider sense, applied to running birds of the Ostrich family. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. corsie, coursie, passage way to the stern. See Course, n. ] (Naut.)A space in the galley; a part of the hatches. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The pursuit or running game with dogs that follow by sight instead of by scent. [ 1913 Webster ]

In coursing of a deer, or hart, with greyhounds. Bacon [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. discursus a running to and fro, discourse, fr. discurrere, discursum, to run to and fro, to discourse; dis- + currere to run: cf. F. discours. See Course. ] 1. The power of the mind to reason or infer by running, as it were, from one fact or reason to another, and deriving a conclusion; an exercise or act of this power; reasoning; range of reasoning faculty. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Difficult, strange, and harsh to the discourses of natural reason. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Conversation; talk. [ 1913 Webster ]

In their discourses after supper. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Filling the head with variety of thoughts, and the mouth with copious discourse. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The art and manner of speaking and conversing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of excellent breeding, admirable discourse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Consecutive speech, either written or unwritten, on a given line of thought; speech; treatise; dissertation; sermon, etc.; as, the preacher gave us a long discourse on duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Dealing; transaction. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Good Captain Bessus, tell us the discourse
Betwixt Tigranes and our king, and how
We got the victory. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Discoursed p. pr. & vb. n. Discoursing. ] 1. To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason. [ Obs. ] “Have sense or can discourse.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To express one's self in oral discourse; to expose one's views; to talk in a continuous or formal manner; to hold forth; to speak; to converse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To relate something; to tell. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To treat of something in writing and formally. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To treat of; to expose or set forth in language. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The life of William Tyndale . . . is sufficiently and at large discoursed in the book. Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To utter or give forth; to speak. [ 1913 Webster ]

It will discourse most eloquent music. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To talk to; to confer with. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I have spoken to my brother, who is the patron, to discourse the minister about it. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who discourse; a narrator; a speaker; an haranguer. [ 1913 Webster ]

In his conversation he was the most clear discourser. Milward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The writer of a treatise or dissertation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Philologers and critical discoursers. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Discursive. ] 1. Reasoning; characterized by reasoning; passing from premises to consequences; discursive. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Containing dialogue or conversation; interlocutory. [ 1913 Webster ]

The epic is everywhere interlaced with dialogue or discoursive scenes. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Inclined to converse; conversable; communicative; as, a discoursive man. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being discoursive or able to reason. [ R. ] Feltham. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. performed or made by an end-user who is without professional training in the relevant techniques; as, their house was a do-it-yourself project. Contrasted with factory-made and professional. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a person who often makes objects typically made by professionals, or performs repairs typically performed by professionals, though not having professional training in the relevant art. The term is used mostly to refer to activities related to maintaining a home. [ PJC ]

adj. same as flavorful. [ Chiefly Brit. ]
Syn. -- flavorful, flavourful, flavorous, flavourous, flavorsome, sapid, saporous. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The product of four times twenty; eighty units or objects. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Four + core, n. ] Four times twenty; eighty. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Four + 2d -some. ] Consisting of four; requiring four participants. [ Scot. or Golf ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. (Golf) A game between four players, with two on each side and each side playing but one ball, the partners striking alternately. It is called a mixed foursome when each side consists of a man and a woman. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. A group of four people or objects; as, we need another player to make a foursome for bridge. [ PJC ]

a. Having four sides and four equal angles. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A university degree with honors; -- a term used in Great Britain. [ Brit. ]
Syn. -- honours degree. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. [ A translation of L. Horae (Gr. &unr_;). See Hour. ] (Myth.) Goddess of the seasons, or of the hours of the day. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lo! where the rosy-blosomed Hours,
Fair Venus' train, appear. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Formerly entercourse, OF. entrecours commerce, exchange, F. entrecours a reciprocal right on neighboring lands, L. intercursus a running between, fr. intercurrere to run between. See Inter-, and Course. ] 1. A commingling; intimate connection or dealings between persons or nations, as in common affairs and civilities, in correspondence or trade; communication; commerce; especially, interchange of thought and feeling; association; communion. [ 1913 Webster ]

This sweet intercourse
Of looks and smiles. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Same as sexual intercourse. [ PJC ]

Sexual intercourse, sexual or carnal connection; coition; copulation, especially between humans.

Syn. -- Communication; connection; commerce; communion; fellowship; familiarity; acquaintance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The principal part of a meal.
Syn. -- entree. [ PJC ]

2. (Nautical) A square mainsail. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ Freq., fr. OE. nourse. See Nurse. ] To nurse; to rear; to bring up. [ Obs. ] [ Written also nosel, nousel, nousle, nowsle, nusle, nuzzle, etc. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She noursled him till years he raught. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

possessive pron. See Note under Our. [ 1913 Webster ]

pron.; sing. Ourself (&unr_;). An emphasized form of the pronoun of the first person plural; -- used as a subject, usually with we; also, alone in the predicate, in the nominative or the objective case. [ 1913 Webster ]

We ourselves might distinctly number in words a great deal further then we usually do. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Safe in ourselves, while on ourselves we stand. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The form ourself is used only in the regal or formal style after we or us, denoting a single person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unless we would denude ourself of all force. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , adv. By or with love, esp. the love of the sexes; -- sometimes written as two words. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

For par amour, I loved her first ere thou. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Pursuivant. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. recours, L. recursus a running back, return, fr. recurrere, recursum, to run back. See Recur. ] 1. A coursing back, or coursing again, along the line of a previous coursing; renewed course; return; retreat; recurence. [ Obs. ] “Swift recourse of flushing blood.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unto my first I will have my recourse. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Preventive physic . . . preventeth sickness in the healthy, or the recourse thereof in the valetudinary. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Recurrence in difficulty, perplexity, need, or the like; access or application for aid; resort. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus died this great peer, in a time of great recourse unto him and dependence upon him. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our last recourse is therefore to our art. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Access; admittance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me recourse to him. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Without recourse (Commerce), words sometimes added to the indorsement of a negotiable instrument to protect the indorser from liability to the indorsee and subsequent holders. It is a restricted indorsement. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To return; to recur. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The flame departing and recoursing. Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To have recourse; to resort. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hacket. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having recurring flow and ebb; moving alternately. [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. See Scorse. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Source. See Source. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The large succulent and slightly acid fruit of a small tree (Anona muricata) of the West Indies; also, the tree itself. It is closely allied to the custard apple. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Arch.) A horizontal band in a building, forming a part of the design, whether molded, projecting, or carved, or in any way distinguished from the rest of the work. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. everything which may be considered, explicitly or implicitly, in a particular theory or discussion. [ PJC ]

n. [ F. See Velure. ] One of many textile fabrics having a pile like that of velvet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Shipbuilding) One of the holes in floor or other plates to permit water to flow through. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

1. A stream of water; a river or brook. Isa. xliv. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A natural channel for water; also, a canal for the conveyance of water, especially in draining lands. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) A running stream of water having a bed and banks; the easement one may have in the flowing of such a stream in its accustomed course. A water course may be sometimes dry. Angell. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

pron. See the Note under Your. [ 1913 Webster ]

pron.; pl. Yourselves [ Your + self. ] An emphasized or reflexive form of the pronoun of the second person; -- used as a subject commonly with you; as, you yourself shall see it; also, alone in the predicate, either in the nominative or objective case; as, you have injured yourself. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of which right now ye han yourselve heard. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

If yourselves are old, make it your cause. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why should you be so cruel to yourself ? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The religious movement which you yourself, as well as I, so faithfully followed from first to last. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]