refusal 
or rejection of anything; demanded, solicited, 
or offered for acceptance. 
For upon theyr re.fmall and forsakinge of the gospell, 
the same was to you by so muche y rather offered. 
J. Udall, On Rom. xi. 
I Iieseech you 
That my refusal of so great an offer 
May make no ill construction. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, 1. 1. 
2. The choice of refusing or taking ; the right 
of taking in preference to others; option of 
buying; preemption. 
I mean to be a suitor to your worship 
For the small tenement . . . 
Why, if your worship give me but your hand, 
That I may have the refusal, I have done. 
B. Jonson, Volpoue, v. 4. 
Neighbour Steel's wife asked to have the refusal of it, but 
I guess I won't sell it. Haliburton. 
Barnard's Act [passed in 1735], which avoided and pro 
hibited all speculative dealings in the British public funds, 
"puts" and refusals, and even such ordinary transactions 
as selling stocks which the vendor has not in his posses- 
sion at the time. Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 852. 
3. In hydraul. engin., the resistance of a pile 
at any point to further driving To buy the re- 
fusal Of. See buy. 
refuse 1 (re-fuz'), ''; pret. and pp. refused, ppr. 
refusing. ' [< ME. refusal, reffusen, < OF. refu- 
ser, renfuser, ranfuser, F. refuser = 8p. rehusar 
= Pg. refusar = It. rifusare, refuse, deny, re- 
ject; origin uncertain; perhaps (1) < LL. *re- 
fusare, freq. of L. refundere, pp. refusus, pour 
back, give back, restore (see refund 1 , and cf. 
refuse 1 ') ; or (2) irreg. < L. refutare, refuse (see 
refute^), perhaps by confusion with recusare, 
refuse (see recuse) ; or (3) < OF. refus, refuse, 
leavings (see refuse 2 ).} I. tram. 1. To deny, 
as a request, demand, or invitation ; decline to 
do or grant : as, to refuse admittance ; she re- 
fused herself to callers. 
Accepteth than of us the trewe entente, 
That never yet refuseden your heste. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 72. 
If you refuse your aid 
In this so never-needed help, yet do not 
Upbraid 's with our distress. Shak., Cor., v. 1. 83. 
He then went to the town-hall ; on their refusing him 
entrance, he burst open the door with his foot, and seated 
himself abruptly. Watpole, Letters, II. 2. 
2. To decline to accept ; reject : as, to refuse 
an office ; to refuse an offer. 
And quhome je ancht for to refuse 
Frame that gret office, chairge, and cure. 
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.\ L 508. 
The stone which the builders refused is become the head 
stone of the corner. Ps. cxviii. 22. 
I, Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of Blank place, refuse you, 
Constantia Neville, spinster, of no place at all. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, v. 
St. Todisown; disavow; forsake. Nares. [''God 
refuse me ! " was formerly a fashionable impre- 
cation.] 
Be/use me nat oute of your Reme[m]braunce. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 41. 
He that yn yowth e no vertue wyll vse, 
In Age all honour wyll hyni Refuge. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. ., extra ser.), i. 68. 
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name. 
Shak., R. and J., ii. 2. 34. 
4. Milit., to hold (troops) back, or move (them) 
back from the regular alinement, when about 
to engage the enemy in battle. In the oblique 
order of battle, if either flank attack, the other 
flank is refused. 5. Fail to receive; resist; 
repel. 
The acid, by destroying the alkali on the lithographic 
chalk, causes the stone to refuse the printing ink except 
where touched by the chalk. 
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 152. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Decline, Refuse, Reject, Repel, and Rebuff 
are in the order of strength. 
II. intrans. To decline to accept or consent ; 
fail to comply. 
Our [women's] hearts are form'd, as you yourselves would 
choose, 
Too proud to ask, too humble to refuse. 
Garth, Epil. to Addison's Cato. 
Free in his will to choose or to refuse, 
Man may improve the crisis, or abuse. 
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 25. 
refuse 1 * (re-fuz'), . [< ME. refuse, < OF. refus, 
m., refuse, f., = It. refuso, m., a refusal; from 
the verb: see refuse*, v. Cf. refuse^."] A re- 
fusal. 
He hathe hurte ful fele that list to make 
A yifte lightly, that put is in refuse. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 70. 
Thy face tempts my soul to leave the heavens for thee, 
And thy words of refuse do pour even hell on me. 
Sir P. Sidney (Arbor's Eng. Garner, I. 567). 
refuse 2 (refus), n. and a. [< ME. refus, refuce, 
< OF. refus, reffus, repulse, refusal, rejection 
5042 
(fairc refus dr . . . , object to, refuse, ii n-fim. 
so as to cause rejection, etre de refus, be refused, 
cerfdt refus, a refuse stag, etc.), associated with 
the verb refuser, refuse, and prob. < L. refusus, 
pp. of refundere, pour back, give back, restore : 
see refuse 1 , refund*. Some confusion may have 
existed with OF. refus, refugee, rrjji*. I'ifitit, 
refuge: see refuit, refute-.} I. . That which 
is refused or rejected ; waste or useless matter; 
the worst or meanest part ; rubbish. 
Thou hast made us as refuse. Lam. Hi. 45. 
Yet man, laborious man, by slow degrees . . . 
Gleans up the refuse of the general spoil. 
Cowper, Heroism, 1. 70. 
Shards and scurf of salt, and scum of dross, 
Old plash of rains, and refuse patch'd with moss. 
Tennyson, Vision of Sin, v. 
= Syn. Dregs, scum, dross, trash, rubbish. 
II. a. Refused; rejected; hence, worthless; 
of no value: as, the refuse parts of stone or 
timber. 
To sen me languyshinge, 
That am refut of every creature. 
Chaucer, Troilus, L 570. 
They fought not against them, but with the refuse and 
scattered people of the overthrown army his father had 
lost before. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 207. 
Everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed 
utterly. 1 Sam. xv. 9. 
refuse 3 (re-fuz'), r. t. [< re- + fuse*, .] To 
fuse or melt again. 
refuser (re-fu'zer), 11. One who refuses or re- 
jects. 
The only refusers and condemners of this catholic prac- 
tice. Jer. Taylor. 
refusion (re-fu'zhpn), n. [< OF. refusion, F. 
refusion = It. rifusione, < L. refusio(n-), an 
overflowing, < refundere, pp. refusus, pour back : 
see refuse*, refund.] 1. A renewed orrepeated 
melting or fusion. 2. The act of pouring back ; 
s renewing. 
It hath been objected to me that this doctrine of the 
refusion of the soul was very consistent with the belief of 
a future state of rewards and punishments, in the Inter- 
mediate space between death and the resolution of the 
soul into the TO iv. Warburton, Legation, i ii., note cc. 
refutability (re-fu-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [< refutable + 
-ity (see -MMV).] Capability of being refuted. 
refutable (re-fu'ta-bl), a. [= OF. "refutable 
= Sp. refutable = Pg. refutarel; as refute 1 + 
-able.'} Capable of being refuted or disproved ; 
that may be proved false or erroneous. 
He alters the text, and creates a refutable doctrine of 
his own. Junius, Letters, liv. 
refutably (re-fu'ta-bli), adv. In a refutable 
manner; so as to be refuted or disproved. 
refutal (re-fu'tal), . [< refute* + -a!.} Refu- 
tation. [Rare.} 
A living refutal of the lie that a good soldier most needs 
be depraved. National Baptist, XXI. xiii. 1. 
refutation (ref-u-ta'shon), n. [< OF. refuta- 
tion, F. refutation = Sp. refutation = Pg. refu- 
t<tc.3o= It. rifutazione, < L. refutatio(n-), a refu- 
tation, < refutare, pp. refutatus, refute: see re- 
fute*.'] The act of refuting or disproving; the 
overthrowing of an argument, opinion, testi- 
mony, doctrine, or theory by argument or coun- 
tervailing proof; confutation; disproof. Refu- 
tation is distinguished as direct or ostensive, indirect or 
apagogical, a priori or a posteriori, according to the kind 
of reasoning employed. 
It was answered by another boke called the Refutation 
or Ouercommyng of the appollogie, of the conuencion of 
Madrill. Hall, Hen. VIII., an. 18. 
As for the first interpretation, because it is altogether 
wasted, it nedeth no refutation. 
Caluine, Declaration on the Eighty-seventh Psalm. 
The error referred to ... Is too obvious to require a 
particular refutation. 
BushnM, Nature and the Supernat., xi. 
refutatory (re-fu'ta-to-ri), a. [< F. refutatoire 
= Sp. Pg. refutatorio, < LL. refutatorius, of or 
belonging to refutation, refutatory, < L. refu- 
tare, pp. refutatus, refute: see refute*.'] Tend- 
ing to refute; containing refutation. 
refute 1 (re-fuf), r. t. ; pret. and pp. refuted, 
ppr. refuting. [< OF. refuter, refute, confute, 
F. refuter = Sp. Pg. refutar = It. rifutare, re- 
futare, < L. refutare, check, drive back, repress, 
repel, rebut, etc., < re- + "futare as in confutare, 
confute: see confute.'] 1. To disprove and over- 
throw by argument or countervailing proof; 
prove to be false or erroneous : as, to refute a 
doctrine or an accusation. 
And then the Law of Nations gainst her rose. 
And reasons brought that no man could refute. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 41. 
Then I began to refute that foule error, howbeit my 
speach did nothing at all preuaile with him. 
HaMuyfs Voyages, II, 60. 
regal 
How wilt thou reason with them, how refute 
Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes? 
MUbm, P. K., iv. 233. 
And he says much that many may dispute, 
And cavil at with ease, but none refute. 
Cowper, Truth, 1. 360. 
2. To overcome in argument; prove to be in 
error : as, to refute a disputant. 
There were so many witnesses to these two miracles 
that it is impossible to refute such multitudes. Addison. 
= Syn. 1. Confute and Refute agree in representing a quick 
and thorough answer to assertions made by another. Con- 
fute applies to arguments, refute to both arguments and 
charges. 
refute'-^, " See refuit. 
refuter (re-fu'ter), n. One who or that which 
refutes. 
My refuter's forehead is stronger, with a weaker wit. 
Bp. Hall, Honour of Married Clergy, i. 3. 
reg. An abbreviation of (a) regent; (b) register; 
(c) registrar; (d) regular; (e) regularly. 
regain (re-gan'), v. t. [< OF. regaignier, regaa- 
gner, rewaignier, F. regagner (= Sp. reganar = 
Pg. reganliar = It. riguadagnare), < re-, again, 
+ gaagnier, gaigtier, gain: see gain*.'] 1. To 
gain anew; recover, as what has escaped or 
been lost; retrieve. 
But by degrees, first this, then that regain'd, 
The turning tide bears back with flowing chance 
Unto the Dauphin all we had attain 'd. 
Daniel, Civil Wars, v. 44. 
If our Fathers have lost their Liberty, why may not we 
labour to regain it? Selden, Table-Talk, p. 40. 
Hopeful to regain 
Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart 
Milton, P. L, x. 972. 
Ah, love ! although the morn shall come again, 
And on new rose-buds the new sun shall smile, 
Can we regain what we have lost meanwhile? 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 838. 
2. To arrive at again; return to; succeed in 
reaching once more : as, they regained the shore 
in safety. 
The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regain'd the 
place. Leigh Hunt, The Glove and the Lions. 
= Syn. 1. To repossess. 
regal 1 (re'gal), a. and n. [< ME. regal, regall, 
< OF. regal] regal, royal (as a noun, a royal 
vestment), in vernacular form real, F. real (> 
E. real'l) and royal (> E. royal); = Pr. reial, 
rial = Sp. Pg. real (> E. reap, a coin) = It. 
regale, reale, < L. regalis, royal, kingly, < rex 
(reg-), a king: see rex. Cf. real 2 , real*, royal, 
regale 2 .] I. a. Pertaining to a king; kingly; 
royal: as, a regal title; regal authority; regal 
pomp. 
Most manifest it is that these [the pyramids], as the 
rest, were the regall sepulchres of the Egyptians. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 99. 
With them [Ithuriel and Zephon] comes a third of regal 
port, 
But faded splendour wan. Milton, P. L., iv. 869. 
Among the gems will be found some portraits of kings 
in the Macedonian period, which may be best studied in 
connexion with the rcyal coins of the same period. 
C. T. Newton, Art and ArchaioL, p. 374. 
Regal or royal fishes whales and sturgeons : so called 
from an enactment of Edward II. that when thrown ashore 
or caught on the British coasts they can be claimed as the 
property of the sovereign. = Syn. Kingly, etc. See royal. 
H.t . pi. Royalty; royal authority. 
Now be we duchesses, both I and ye. 
And sikered to the regals of Athenes. 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2128. 
regal 2 (re'gal), . [Early mod. E. regall, re- 
gatte, also rigole, regale; < OF. regale, F. regale, < 
Olt. regale, a regal, It. regale, a hand-organ (Sp. 
regalia, an organ-pipe), < regale, regal, royal, < 
L. regalis, regal, royal : see regal*.] 1. A small 
portable organ, much 
used in the sixteenth 
and seventeenth cen- 
turies, consisting of 
one or sometimes two 
sets of reed-pipes 
played with keys for 
the player's right 
hand, with a small 
bellows for the left 
hand. Its compass in- 
cluded only a few tones. 
In many cases the instru- 
ment was made to shut up 
within covers, like a large 
book : hence the name 
Bible-organ. If there was 
but one pipe to each note, 
(From a 
painting.) 
HUtC, 
the instrument was called 
a single reyal, if two pipes 
to each note, a double retjaL The invention of the regal 
is often erroneously ascribed to Roll, an organ-builder of 
Nuremberg, in 1575; the instrument was common in Eng- 
land in the reign of Henry VIII. It is now obsolete, but 
the name is still applied in Germany to certain reed-stopa 
