return.

Prior.

I see, I cried, his woes, a countless train; I see his friends o'erwhelm'd beneath the main. Pope's Odyssey. COUNTRY. n. s. [contrée, Fr. contrata, low Latin, supposed to be contracted from conterrata.]

1. A tract of land; a region, as distinguished from other regions.

They require to be examined concerning the descriptions of those countries of which they Spratt. would be informed.

2. The parts of a region distant from cities or courts; rural parts.

Would I a house for happiness erect,
Nature alone should be the architect;
She'd build it more convenient than great,
And, doubtless, in the country chuse her seat.

Cowley; I see them hurry from country to town, and then from the town back again into the country. Spectator. 3. The place which any man inhabits, or in which he at present resides.

Send out more horses, skirre the country
round;

Shakspeare.
Hang those that talk of fear.
The place of one's birth; the native
soil.

The king set on foot a reformation in the ornaments and advantages of our country. Spratt. O, save my country, heav'n! shall be your last.

5. The inhabitants of any region.

Pope.

All the country, in a general voice, Cried hate upon him; all their pray`rs and love Shakspeare. Were set on Hereford.

COUNTRY. adj.

1. Rustick; rural; villatick.

Cannot a country wench know, that, having received a shilling from one that owes her three, and a shilling also from another that owes her three, the remaining debts in each of their hands are equal?

Locke.

My countryman; but yet I know him not. Shak, Homer, great bard! so fate ordain'd, arose ; And, bold as were his countrymen in fight, Snatch'd their fair actions from degrading prose, Prior.

And set their battles in eternal light.

The British soldiers act with greater vigour under the conduct of one whom they do not consider only as their leader, but as their countryAddison on the War.

man.

Graunt.

A countryman took a boar in his corn. L'Estrange COUNTY. n. s. [comté, Fr. comitatus, Latin.]

1. A shire; a circuit or portion of the realm, into which the whole land is divided, for the administration of justice.

Every county is governed by a yearly officer, called a sheriff, who puts in execution all the commands and judgments of the king's courts. Of these counties four are termed county-palatines; as that of Lancaster, Chester, Durham, and Ely. A county-palatine is a jurisdiction of so high a nature, that the chief governors of these, by special charter from the king, sent out all writs in their own name, and did all things touching justice as absolutely as the prince himself, only acknowledging him their superior and sovereign. But this power has, by a statute in Henry VIII. his time, been much abridged. There are likewise counties corporate, which are certain cities or ancient boroughs upon which our princes have thought good to bestow extraordinary liberties. Of these London is one, York another, the city of Chester a third, and Canterbury a fourth. And to these may be added many more; as the county of the town of Kingston upon Hull, the county of the town of Haverfordwest, and the county of Lichfield. County is, in another signification, used for the Corvell county-court. Discharge your powers unto their several counties, As we will ours.

Shakspeare. He caught his death the last county sessions, where he would go to see justice done to a poor widow-woman and her fatherless children. Addison's Spectator,

2. An earldom.
3. [compté.] A count; a lord. Obsolete,
The gallant, young, and noble gentleman,
Shakspeare.
The county Paris.
He made Hugh Lupus county palatine of
Chester; and gave that earldom to him and his
heirs, to hold the same ita liberè ad gladiuen
sicut rex tenebat Angliam ad serenam.

Davies

COUPE'E. n. s. [French.] A motion in dancing, when one leg is a little bent and suspended from the ground, and with the other a motion is made forwards. Chambers.

COUPLE. n. s. [couple, French; copula,
Latin.]
1. A chain or tie that holds dogs together.
I'll keep my stable-stand where
Flodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her;
Than when I feel and see, no further trust her.
Shakspeare.

It is in some sort with friends as it is with dogs in couples; they should be of the same size and humour. L'Estrange.

2. Two; a brace.

He was taken up by a couple of shepherds, and by them brought to life again. Sidney; A schoolmaster, who shall teach my son and yours, I will provide; yea, though the three do cost me a couple of hundred pounds. Asebam.

A piece of chrystal inclosed a couple of drops, which looked like water when they were shaken, though perhaps they are nothing but bubbles of air. Addison on Italy. By adding one to one, we have the complex

idea of a couple.

3. A male and his female.

So shall all the couples three

Ever true in loving be.

Oh! alas!

Locke.

Shakspeare.

And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd Brach. Shakspeare.

2. To join one to another.

What greater ills have the heavens in store, To couple coming harms with sorrow past. Sidney. And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans, Still we went coupled and inseparable. Shaksp. Put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be one. Exodus. They behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 1 Peter.

Their concernments were so coupled, that if nature had not, yet their religions would have, made them brothers. South.

That man makes a mean figure in the eyes of reason, who is measuring syllables and coupling rhimes when he should be mending his own soul and securing his own immortality. Pope. 3. To marry; to wed; to join in wedlock. I shall rejoice to see you so coupled, as may be fit both for your honour and your satisfaction.

Sidney.

I am just going to assist with the archbishop, in degrading a parson who couples all our beggars, by which I shall make one happy man. Szeift. To COUPLE. v. n. To join in embraces.

Thou, with thy lusty crew,

Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men, And coupled with them, and begot a race. Mill.

That great variety of brutes in Africa, is by reason of the meeting together of brutes of se veral species, at water, and the promiscuous couplings of males and females of several species. Hale's Origin of Mankind. After this alliance,

Let tigers match with hinds, and wolves with sheep,

And every creature couple with his foe. Dryden. COUPLE-BEGGAR. n. s. [couple and beg gar.] One that makes it his business to marry beggars to each other.

་

No couple-beggar in the land

E'er join'd such numbers hand in hand. Swift. Co'UPLET. n. s. [French.] 1. Two verses; a pair of rhymes.

Then would they cast away their pipes, and, holding hand in hand, dance by the only cadence of their voices; which they would use in singing some short couplets, whereto the one half beginning, the other half should answer. Sidney.

Then at the last, an only couplet fraught
With some unmeaning thing they call a thought,
A needless Alexandrine ends the song,
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow
length along.

In Pope I cannot read a line,
But with a sigh I wish it mine;
When he can in one couplet fix
More sense than I can do in six,
It gives me such a jealous fit,
I cry, pox take him and his wit!
2. A pair, as of doves.

Pept.

Swift.

Anon, as patient as the female dove
Ere that her golden couplets are disclos'd,
His silence will sit drooping. Shakspeare,
COURAGE. n. s. [courage, Fr. from cor,
Lat.] Bravery; active fortitude; spirit
of enterprise.

The king-becoming graces,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them."

Their discipline

Shakspeare

Now mingled with their courage. Shakspears Hope arms their courage; from their tow'rs they throw

Their darts with double force, and drive the for.

Drydza

Courage that grows from constitution, very often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; and when it is only a kind of instinct in the soul, it breaks out on all occasions, without judg ment or discretion. That courage which arises from the sense of our duty, and from the fear of offending Him that made us, acts always in an uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason. Addison's Guardian.

Nothing but the want of common courage was the cause of their misfortunes.

COURAGEOUS. adj. [from courage.] 1. Brave; daring; bold; enterprising; adventurous; hardy; stout.

And he that is courageous among the mighty, shall flee away naked in that day.

Let us imitate the courageous example of St. Paul, who chose then to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.

Atterbury.

2. It is used ludicrously by Shakspeare for outrageous.

He is very courageous mad, about his throwing
Shakspeare

into the water.

with several kinds.

Bacon.

Bravely; stoutly; boldly.

Men talk as if they believed in God, but they live as if they thought there was none; their vows and promises are no more than words of L'Estrange.

Bourse.

22. Of course. By consequence.

With a mind unprepossessed by doctors and commentators of any sect: whose reasonings, interpretation, and language, which I have been used to, will of course make all chime that way; and make another, and perhaps the genuine meaning of the author, seem harsh, strained, and uncouth, to me. Locke.

23. Of course. By settled rule.

Sense is of course annex'd to wealth and power;

No muse is proof against a golden shower. Garth. Neither shall I be so far wanting to myself, as not to desire a patent, granted of course to all useful projectors.

To COURSE. v. a. [from the noun.] 1. To hunt; to pursue.

The big round tears

Savift.

Shakspeare.

Cours' one another down his innocent nose
In piteous chase.
The king is hunting the deer; I am coursing
myself.
Shakspeare.

Where's the thane of Cawdor?

We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose To be his purveyor. Shakspeare. 2. To pursue with dogs that hunt in view. It would be tried also in flying of hawks; or in coursing of a deer, or hart, with greyhounds. Bacon's Natural Hist.

I am continually starting hares for you to course: we were certainly cut out for one another; for my temper quits an amour just where thme takes it up. Congreve. 3. To put to speed; to force to run. When they have an appetite

To venery, let them not drink nor eat, And course them oft, and tire them in the heat. May's Virgil. To COURSE. v. n. To run; to rove about. Swift as quicksilver it courses through The natʼral gates and alleys of the body. Shaks. The blood, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris warms it, and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme. Shakspeare.

She did so course o'er my exteriours, with such a greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning glass. Shaks. Merry Wives of Windsor. Ten brace and more of greyhounds, snowy

fair,

And tall as stags, ran loose, and cours'd around his chair.

All, at once

Dryden.

Relapsing quick, as quickly re-ascend, And mix, and thwart, extinguish, and renew, All ether coursing in a maze of light. Thomson. Co'URSER. n. s. [from course; coursier, French.]

1. A swift horse; a war horse: a word not used in prose.

He proudly pricketh on his courser strong.

COURT. n. s. [cour, Fr. koert, Dutch; curtis, low Latin.]

2.

The place where the prince resides; the palace.

Here do you keep a hundred knights zi
squires:

Men so disorderly, so debauch'd and bold,
That this our court, infected with their mannet
Shews like a riotous inn; epicurism and lust
Make it more like a tavern, or a brothel,
Than a grac'd palace.
Shaker

It shall be an habitation of dragons, and court for owls.

Isaiah His exactness, that every man should have his due, was such, that you would think b had never seen a court: the politeness which this justice was administered, would co vince you he never had lived out of one. Pri A suppliant to your royal court I come. Pup. The hall or chamber where justice is administered.

Are you acquainted with the difference That holds this present question in the cert! Shakspear

St. Paul being brought into the highest r in Athens, to give an account of the doctrine be had preached concerning Jesus and the restr rection, took occasion to imprint on those map Atterbar strates a future state.

3. Open space before a house.

You must have, before you come to the from. three courts: a green court plain, with a wal about it; a second court of the same, but mort garnished, with little turrets, or other embellis ments, upon the wall; and a third court, to square with the front, not to be built but closed with a naked wall.

Ban

Suppose it were the king's bedchamber, ye the meanest man in the tragedy must come and dispatch his business, rather than in the or court yard (which is fitter for him), for fear the stage should be cleared and the scenes broken.

Drysin 4. A small opening enclosed with house and paved with broad stones, distil guished from a street. Persons who compose the retinue of 1 prince.

5.

Their wisdom was so highly esteemed, that some of them were always employed tafe the courts of their kings to advise them. Y 6. Persons who are assembled for the administration of justice.

7. Any jurisdiction, military, civil, of ecclesiastical.

If any noise or soldier you perceive Near to the wall, by some apparent sign Let us have knowledge at the court of guard. Shakspeare's Henry to The archbishop Of Canterbury, accompanied with other

I have been considering why poets have such ill success in making their court, since they are allowed to be the greatest and best of all flatterers: the defect is, that they flatter only in print or in writing. Savift to Gay.

9. It is often used in composition in most of its senses.

To COURT. v. a. [from the noun.]

1. To woo; to solicit a woman to marriage.

Follow a shadow, it flies you;
Seem to fly it, it will pursue:

So court a mistress, she denies you;

Let her alone, she will court you. Ben Jonson.
Fir'd with her love, and with ambition led,
The neighb'ring princes court her nuptial bed.
Dryden's Eneid.

Alas! Sempronius, wouldst thou talk of love
To Marcia, whilst her father's life 's in danger?
Thou might'st as well court the pale trembling
vestal

While she beholds the holy flame expiring. Addison's Cato. Ev'n now, when silent scorn is all they gain, A thousand court you, though they court in vain. Pope.

2. To solicit; to seek.

Their own ease and satisfaction would quickly teach children to court commendation, and avoid doing what they found condemned. Locke. 3. To flatter; to endeavour to please. COURT-CHAPLAIN. n. s. [court and chaplain.] One who attends the king to celebrate the holy offices.

The maids of honour have been fully convinced by a famous court-chaplain. Swift. COURT-DAY. n. s. [court and day.] Day on which justice is solemnly administered.

The judge took time to deliberate, and the next court-day he spoke. Arbuthnot and Pope. COURT-DRESSER.n.s.[court and dresser.] One that dresses the court, or persons of rank; a flatterer.

There are many ways of fallacy; such arts of giving colours, appearances, and resemblances, by this court-dresser, fancy. Locke, COURT-FAVOUR. n.s. Favours or benefits bestowed by princes.

We part with the blessings of both worlds for pleasures, court-favours, and commissions; and at last, when we have sold ourselves to our lusts, we grow sick of our bargam. L'Estrange COURT-HAND. n. s. [court and band.] The hand or manner of writing used in records and judicial proceedings. VOL. I.

He can make obligations, and write courtband. Shakspeare. COURT-LADY. n. s. [court and lady. A lady conversant or employed in court.

The same study, long continued, is as intole rable to them, as the appearing long in the same clothes or fashion is to a court-lady. Locke. COURTEOUS. adj. [courtois, French.] Elegant of manners; polite; well-bred; full of acts of respect.

He hath deserved worthily of his country; and his ascent is not by such easy degrees, as those who have been supple and courteous to the people. Shakspeare's Coriolanus. They are one while courteous, civil, and obliging; but, within a small time after, are supercilious, sharp, troublesome, fierce, and excep tious. South COURTEOUSLY. adv. [from courteous.] Respectfully; civilly; complaisantly.

He thought them to be gentlemen of much more worth than their habits bewrayed, yet he let them courteously pass. Wotton.

Whilst Christ was upon earth, he was not only easy of access, he did not only courteously receive all that addressed themselves to him, but also did not disdain himself to travel up and down the country. Calamy's Sermons. Alcinous, being prevailed upon by the glory of his name, entertained him courteously. Broome. COURTEOUSNESS. n. s. [from courteous.} Civility; complaisance. COURTESAN. n. s. [cortisana, low Co'URTEZAN. Lat.] A woman of the town; a prostitute; a strumpet.

"T is a brave night to cool a courtezan. Shak. With them there are no stews, no dissolute houses, no courtesans, nor any thing of that kind; nay, they wonder, with detestation, at you in Europe, which permit such things. Bacon. The Corinthian is a column lasciviously decked like a courtesan. Wotton. Charixus, the brother of Sappho, in love with Rhodope the courtesan, spent his whole estate upon her. Addison. COURTESY. 7. J. [courtoisie, Fr. cortesia, Italian.]

1. Elegance of manners; civility; complaisance.

Sir, you are very welcome to our house: It must appear in other ways than words, Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy.

Shakspeare's Merchant of Venice. Who have seen his estate, his hospitality, his courtesy to strangers. Peacham

He, who was compounded of all the elements of affability and courtesy towards all kind of people, brought himself to a habit of neglect, and even of rudeness, towards the queen. Clar. Courtesy is sooner found in lowly shades With smoky rafters; than in tap'stry halls, And courts of princes, whence it first was nam'd. Milton

So gentle of condition was he known, That through the court his courtesy was blown. Dryden's Fables

2. An act of civility or respect.

You spurn'd me such a day; another time You call'd me dog; and, for these courtesies, I'll lend you thus much money. Shakspeare. Repose you there; while I to the hard house Return, and force their scanted courtesy. Shak. When I was last at Exeter,

The mayor in courtesy shew'd me the castle. Shakspeare's Richard 133• 21