Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COUN'SEL, v.t. [L. consilior.]

1. To give advice or deliberate opinion to another for the government of his conduct; to advise. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. – Rev. iii.
2. To exhort, warn, admonish, or instruct. We ought frequently to counsel our children against the vices of the age. They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. – Franklin.
3. To advise or recommend; as, to counsel a crime. [Not much used.] – Dryden.

COUN'SEL-A-BLE, a.

Willing to receive counsel; disposed to follow the advice or opinions of others. – Clarendon.

COUN'SEL-ED, pp.

Advised; instructed; admonished.

COUN'SEL-ING, ppr.

Advising; instructing; admonishing.

COUN'SEL-KEEP-ER, n.

One who can keep a secret. – Shak.

COUN'SEL-KEEP-ING, a.

Keeping secrets. – Shak.

COUN'SEL-OR, n.

1. Any person who gives advice; but properly one who is authorized by natural relationship, or by birth, office or profession, to advise another in regard to his future conduct and measures. Ahithophel was David's counselor. His mother was his counselor to do wickedly. 2 Chron. xxii. In Great Britain, the peers of the realm are hereditary counselors of the crown.
2. The members of a counsel; one appointed to advise a king or chief magistrate, in regard to the administration of the government.
3. One who is consulted by a client in a law case; one who gives advice in relation to a question of law; one whose profession is to give advice in law, and manage causes for clients. Privy Counselor, a member of a privy counsel.

COUN'SEL-OR-SHIP, n.

The office of a counselor, or privy counselor.

COUNT, n.¹ [Fr. conte and compte; Sp. cuenta and cuento; It. conto. The Spanish has also computo, and the It. id.]

1. Reckoning; the act of numbering; as, this is the number according to my count.
2. Number. – Spenser.
3. In law, a particular charge in an indictment, or narration in pleading, setting, forth the cause of complaint. There may be different counts in the same declaration.

COUNT, n.² [Fr. comte; It. conte; Sp. conde; Port. id.; Arm. condt; from L. comes, comitis, a companion or associate, a fellow traveler. Qu. con and eo.]

A title of foreign nobility, equivalent to the English earl, and whose domain is a county. An earl; the alderman of a shire, as the Saxons called him. The titles of English nobility, according to their rank, are Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. – Blackstone. Encyc.

COUNT, v.i.

To count on or upon, to reckon upon; to found an account or scheme on; to rely on. We can not count on the friendship of nations. Count not on the sincerity of sycophants.

COUNT, v.t. [Fr. conter; It. contare; Sp. Port. contar; Arm. counta or contein. Qu. the root. The Fr. has compter, also, from the L. computo; the Sp. and Port. computar, and the It. computare. The Eng. count is directly from conter; and it may be a question whether conter and contar are from the L. computo.]

1. To number; to tell or name one by one, or by small numbers, for ascertaining the whole number of units in a collection; as, to count the years, days and hours of a man's life; to count the stars. Who can count the dust of Jacob? – Numb. xxiii.
2. To reckon; to preserve a reckoning; to compute. Some tribes of rude nations count their years by the coming of certain birds among them at certain seasons, and leaving them at others. – Locke.
3. To reckon; to place to an account; to ascribe or impute; to consider or esteem as belonging. Abraham believed in God, and he counted it to him for righteousness. – Gen. xv.
4. To esteem; to account; to reckon; to think, judge or consider. I count them my enemies. – Ps. cxxxix. Neither count I my life dear to myself. – Acts xx. I count all things loss. – Phil. iii.
5. To impute; to charge. – Rowe.

COUNT'A-BLE, a.

That may be numbered. – Spenser.

COUNT'ED, pp.

Numbered; told; esteemed; reckoned; imputed.

COUN'TE-NANCE, n. [Fr. contenance, from contenant, containing, from contenir, to contain, L. contineo; con and teneo, to hold.]

1. Literally, the contents of a body; the outline and extent which constitutes the whole figure or external appearance. Appropriately, the human face; the whole form of the face, or system of features; visage. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. – Prov. xv. Be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. – Matth. vi.
2. Air; look; aspect; appearance of the face; as in the phrase, to change or alter the countenance.
3. The face or look of a beast; as, a horse of a good countenance.
4. Favor; good will; kindness. Thou hast made him glad with thy countenance. – Ps. xxi. Hence in Scriptural language, the light of God's countenance is his smiles or favorable regards, his favor and grace; and to hide his face or countenance is to manifest his displeasure, and withdraw his gracious aids. So the rebuke of his countenance indicates his anger and frowns. – Ps. lxxx. This application of face or countenance, which seems to be of high antiquity, proceeded probably from the practice of turning away the face to express anger, displeasure and refusal; a practice still common, but probably universal among rude nations. The opposite conduct would of course express favor. The grant of a petition is accompanied with a look directed to the petitioner; the refusal or denial, with an averted face. Hence,
5. Support; aid; patronage; encouragement; favor in promoting and maintaining a person or cause. Let religion enjoin the countenance of the laws. Give no countenance to violations of moral duty. It is the province of the magistrate, to give countenance to piety and virtue. – Atterbury.
6. Show; resemblance; superficial appearance. The election being done, he made countenance of great content thereat. – Ascham.
7. In law, credit or estimation. – Cowel. To keep the countenance, is to preserve a calm, composed or natural look, unruffled by passion; to refrain from expressing laughter, joy, anger, or other passion, by an unchanged countenance. In countenance, in favor; in estimation. If the profession of religion were in countenance among men of distinction, it would have a happy effect on society. To keep in countenance, to give assurance or courage to; to support; to aid by favor; to prevent from shame or dismay. To put in countenance, to give assurance; to encourage; or to bring into favor; to support. Out of countenance, confounded; abashed; with the countenance cast down; not bold or assured. To put out of countenance, to cause the countenance to fall; to abash; to intimidate; to disconcert.

COUN'TE-NANCE, v.t.

1. To favor; to encourage by opinion or words. The design was made known to the minister, but he said nothing to countenance it. – Anon.
2. To aid; to support; to encourage; to abet; to vindicate, by any means. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. – Ex. xxiii.
3. To encourage; to appear in defense. He countenanced the landing in his long boat. – Wotton.
4. To make a show of. Each to these ladies love did countenance. – Spenser.
5. To keep an appearance. – Shak.

COUN'TE-NANC-ED, pp.

Favored; encouraged; supported.

COUN'TE-NANC-ER, n.

One who countenances, favors or supports.

COUN'TE-NANC-ING, ppr.

Favoring; encouraging; supporting.

COUN'TER, adv. [Fr. contre; L. contra; Sp. and It. contra; probably a compound of con and tra, as in extra, ultra.]

1. Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction; used chiefly with run or go; as, to run counter to the rules of virtue; he went counter to his own interest.
2. The wrong way; contrary to the right course. – Shak.
3. Contrariwise; in a contrary manner. – Locke.
4. The face, or at the face. [Not used.] – Sandys. This word is prefixed to many others, chiefly verbs and nouns, expressing opposition.

COUNT'ER, n. [from count.]

1. A false piece of money or stamped metal, used as means of reckoning; any thing used to keep an account or reckoning, as in games.
2. Money, in contempt. – Shak.
3. A table or board on which money is counted; a table on which goods in a shop are laid for examination by purchasers. In lieu of this, we sometimes see written the French comptoir, from compter, computo; but counter is the genuine orthography.
4. The name of certain prisons in London.
5. One that counts or reckons; also, an auditor.
6. Encounter. [Not used.]
7. In ships, an arch or vault, whose upper part is terminated by the bottom of the stern. The upper or second counter is above the former, but not vaulted.
8. A tell-tale; a contrivance in an engine or carriage to tell numbers, as of strokes or revolutions.
9. In music, counter is the name given to an under part, to serve for contrast to a principal part, as counter-tenor, &c. Counter of a horse, that part of a horse's forehand which lies between the shoulder and under the neck. – Farrier's Dict.

COUN-TER-ACT', v.t. [counter and act.]

To act in opposition to; to hinder; defeat or frustrate by contrary agency. Good precepts will sometimes counteract the effects of evil example; but more generally good precepts are counteracted by bad examples.

COUN-TER-ACT'ED, pp.

Hindered; frustrated; defeated by contrary agency.

COUN-TER-ACT'ING, ppr.

Hindering; frustrating.

COUN-TER-AC'TION, n.

Action in opposition; hinderance.