Emily Dickinson Lexicon

START'LE, n.

A sudden motion or shock occasioned by an unexpected alarm, surprise or apprehension of danger; sudden impression of terror. After having recovered from my first startle, I was well pleased with the accident. – Spectator.

START'LE, v.i. [dim. of start.]

To shrink; to move suddenly or be excited on feeling a sudden alarm. Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction? – Addison.

START'LE, v.t.

1. To impress with fear; to excite by sudden alarm, surprise or apprehension; to shock; to alarm to fright. We were started at the cry of distress. Any great and unexpected event is apt to startle us. The supposition that angels assume bodies, need not startle us. – Locke.
2. To deter; to cause to deviate. [Little used.] – Clarendon.

START'LED, pp.

Suddenly moved or shocked by an imprecision of fear or surprise.

START'LING, ppr.

Suddenly impressing with fear or surprise.

START'LING-LY, adv.

In a startling manner.

START-UP, a.

Suddenly coming into notice. [Not used.] – Warburton.

START-UP, n. [start and up.]

1. One that comes suddenly into notice. [Not used. We use upstart.] – Shak.
2. A kind of high shoe. – Hall.

STARV-A'TION, n.

The act of starving or state of being starved.

STARVE, v.i. [Sax. stearfian, to perish with hunger or cold; G. sterben, to die, either by disease or hunger, or by a wound; D. sterven, to die. Qu. is this from the root of Dan. tarv, Sw. tarf, necessity, want?]

1. To perish; to be destroyed. Fairfax. [In this general sense, obsolete.]
2. To perish or die with cold; as, to starve with cold. [This sense is retained in England, but not in the United States.]
3. To perish with hunger. [This sense is retained in England and the United States.]
4. To suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent. Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed. – Pope.

STARVE, v.t.

1. To kill with hunger. Maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.
2. To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender.
3. To destroy by want; as, to starve plants by the want of nutriment.
4. To kill with cold. [Not in use in the United States.] From beds of raging fire to starve in ice / Their soft ethereal warmth. – Milton.
5. To deprive of force or vigor. The powers of their minds are starved by disuse. [Unusual.] – Locke.

STARV'ED, pp.

1. Killed with hunger; subdued by hunger; rendered poor by want.
2. Killed by cold. [Not in use in the United States.]

STARVE'LING, a. [stàrving.]

Hungry; lean; pining with want. – Philips.

STARVE'LING, n. [stàrvling.]

An animal or plant that is made thin, lean and weak through want of nutriment. And thy poor starveling bountifully fed. – Donne.

STARV'ING, ppr.

1. Perishing with hunger; killing with hunger; rendering lean and poor by want of nourishment.
2. Perishing with cold; killing with cold. [English.]

STAR-WORT, n.

A plant of the genus Aster. The yellow star-wort is of the genus Inula or Elecampane.

STA'TA-RY, a. [from state.]

Fixed; settled. [Not in use.] – Brown.

STATE, n. [L. status, from sto, to stand, to be fixed; It. stato; Sp. estado; Fr. etât. Hence G. stät, fixed; statt, place, abode, stead; staat, state; stadt, a town or city; D. staat, condition, state; stad, a city, Dan. and Sw. stad; Sans. stidaha, to stand; Pers. istaden, id. State is fixedness or standing.]

1. Condition; the circumstances of a being or thing at any given time. These circumstances may be internal, constitutional or peculiar to the being, or they may have relation to other beings. We say, the body is in a sound state, or it is in a weak state; or it has just recovered from a feeble state. The state of his health is good. The state of his mind is favorable for study. So we say, the state of public affairs calls for the exercise of talents and wisdom. In regard to foreign nations, our affairs are in a good state. So we say, single state, and married state. Declare the past and present state of things. – Dryden.
2. Modification of any thing. Keep the state of the question in your eye. – Doyle.
3. Crisis; stationary point; highth; point from which the next movement is regression. Tumors have their several degrees and times, as beginning, augment, state and declination. [Not in use.] – Wiseman.
4. Estate, possession. [Obs.] [See Estate.] – Daniel.
5. A political body, or body politic; the whole body of the people united under one government, whatever may be the form of the government. Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state. – Blackstone. More usually the word signifies a political body governed by representatives; a commonwealth; as, the States of Greece; the States of America. In this sense, state has sometimes more immediate reference to the government, sometimes to the people or community. Thus when we say, the state has made provision for the paupers, the word has reference to the government; or legislature; but when we say, the state is taxed to support paupers, the word refers to the whole people or community.
6. A body of men united by profession, or constituting a community of a particular character; as, the civil and ecclesiastical states in Great Britain. But these are sometimes distinguished by the terms church and state. In this case, state signifies the civil community or government only.
7. Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor. – Shak.
8. Pomp; appearance of greatness. In state the monarchs march'd. – Dryden. Where least of state, there most of love is shown. – Dryden.
9. Dignity; grandeur. She instructed him how he should keep state, yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes. – Bacon.
10. A seat of dignity. This chair shall be my state. – Shak.
11. A canopy; a covering of dignity. His high throne, under state / Of richest texture spread. [Unusual.] – Milton.
12. A person of high rank. [Not in use.] – Latimer.
13. The principal persons in a government. The bold design / Pleas'd highly those infernal states. – Milton.
14. The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country; as, the states general.
15. Joined with another word, it denotes public, or what belongs to the community or body politic; as, state affairs; state policy.

STATE, v.t.

1. To set; to settle. [See Stated.]
2. To express the particulars of any thing in writing; to set down in detail or in gross; as, to slate an account; to state debt and credit; to state the amount due.
3. To express the particulars of any thing verbally; to represent fully in words; to narrate; to recite. The witnesses stated all the circumstances of the transaction. They are enjoined to state all the particulars. It is the business of the advocate to state the whole case. Let the question be fairly stated.

STAT'ED, pp.

1. Expressed or represented; told; recited.
2. adj. Settled; established; regular; occurring at regular times; not occasional; as, stated hours of business.
3. Fixed; established; as, a stated salary.

STAT'ED-LY, adv.

Regularly; at certain times; not occasionally. It is one of the distinguishing marks of a good man, that he statedly attends public worship.

STATE'LESS, a.

Without pomp. – J. Barlow.

STATE'LI-ER, a. [comp.]

More lofty or majestic.

STATE'LI-NESS, n. [from stately.]

1. Grandeur; loftiness of mien or manner; majestic appearance; dignity. For stateliness and majesty, what is comparable to a horse? – More.
2. Appearance of pride; affected dignity. – Beaum.

STATE'LY, a.

1. Lofty; dignified; majestic; as, stately manners; a stately gait.
2. Magnificent; grand; as, a stately edifice; a stately dome; a stately pyramid.
3. Elevated in sentiment. – Dryden.