style of court

Style \Style\, n. [OE. stile, F. style, Of. also stile, L.
   stilus a style or writing instrument, manner or writing, mode
   of expression; probably for stiglus, meaning, a pricking
   instrument, and akin to E. stick. See {Stick}, v. t., and cf.
   {Stiletto}. The spelling with y is due to a supposed
   connection with Gr. sty^los a pillar.]
   1. An instrument used by the ancients in writing on tablets
      covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the
      other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of
      making erasures by smoothing the wax.
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   2. Hence, anything resembling the ancient style in shape or
      use. Specifically: 
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      (a) A pen; an author's pen. --Dryden.
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      (b) A sharp-pointed tool used in engraving; a graver.
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      (c) A kind of blunt-pointed surgical instrument.
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      (d) (Zool.) A long, slender, bristlelike process, as the
          anal styles of insects.
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      (e) [Perhaps fr. Gr. sty^los a pillar.] The pin, or
          gnomon, of a dial, the shadow of which indicates the
          hour. See {Gnomon}.
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      (f) [Probably fr. Gr. sty^los a pillar.] (Bot.) The
          elongated part of a pistil between the ovary and the
          stigma. See Illust. of {Stamen}, and of {Pistil}.
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   3. Mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or
      written; especially, such use of language in the
      expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty
      of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse;
      rhetorical expression.
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            High style, as when that men to kinges write.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            Style is the dress of thoughts.       --Chesterfield.
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            Proper words in proper places make the true
            definition of style.                  --Swift.
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            It is style alone by which posterity will judge of a
            great work.                           --I. Disraeli.
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   4. Mode of presentation, especially in music or any of the
      fine arts; a characteristic of peculiar mode of developing
      in idea or accomplishing a result.
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            The ornamental style also possesses its own peculiar
            merit.                                --Sir J.
                                                  Reynolds.
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   5. Conformity to a recognized standard; manner which is
      deemed elegant and appropriate, especially in social
      demeanor; fashion.
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            According to the usual style of dedications. --C.
                                                  Middleton.
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   6. Mode or phrase by which anything is formally designated;
      the title; the official designation of any important body;
      mode of address; as, the style of Majesty.
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            One style to a gracious benefactor, another to a
            proud, insulting foe.                 --Burke.
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   7. (Chron.) A mode of reckoning time, with regard to the
      Julian and Gregorian calendars.
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   Note: Style is Old or New. The Old Style follows the Julian
         manner of computing the months and days, or the
         calendar as established by Julius Caesar, in which
         every fourth year consists of 366 days, and the other
         years of 365 days. This is about 11 minutes in a year
         too much. Pope Georgy XIII. reformed the calendar by
         retrenching 10 days in October, 1582, in order to bring
         back the vernal equinox to the same day as at the time
         of the Council of Nice, a. d. 325. This reformation was
         adopted by act of the British Parliament in 1751, by
         which act 11 days in September, 1752, were retrenched,
         and the third day was reckoned the fourteenth. This
         mode of reckoning is called New Style, according to
         which every year divisible by 4, unless it is divisible
         by 100 without being divisible by 400, has 366 days,
         and any other year 365 days.
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   {Style of court}, the practice or manner observed by a court
      in its proceedings. --Ayliffe.
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   Syn: Diction; phraseology; manner; course; title. See
        {Diction}.
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