*niste*

v. i. 1. To contribute; to bring aid or supplies; to conduce; to minister. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fountain . . . administers to the pleasure as well as the plenty of the place. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) To perform the office of administrator; to act officially; as, A administers upon the estate of B. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Administrator. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to administration, or to the executive part of government. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ A corruption of baluster. ] 1. A baluster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (sing. or pl.) The balustrade of a staircase. Formerly used in this sense mostly in the plural, now mostly in the singular. [ Also spelled bannister. ] [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

He struggled to ascend the pulpit stairs, holding hard on the banisters. Sir W. Scott.

n. same as banister. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a tropical tree of Florida and West Indies (Pouteria campechiana nervosa) yielding edible fruit.
Syn. -- canistel tree. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. an ovoid orange-yellow mealy sweet fruit of Florida and West Indies.
Syn. -- eggfruit. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. canistrum a basket woven from reeds Gr. &unr_;, fr. ka`nh, ka`nna reed; cf. F. canistre. See Cane, and Canaster. ] 1. A small basket of rushes, reeds, or willow twigs, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small box or case for holding tea, coffee, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mil.) A kind of case shot for cannon, in which a number of lead or iron balls in layers are inclosed in a case fitting the gun; -- called also canister shot. [ 1913 Webster ]

, n. (Mech.) A refractory material consisting of crushed or ground siliceous stone, mixed with fire clay; -- used for lining Bessemer converters; also used for macadamizing roads. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. ministre, F. ministre, fr. L. minister, orig. a double comparative from the root of minor less, and hence meaning, an inferior, a servant. See 1st Minor, and cf. Master, Minstrel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument. [ 1913 Webster ]

Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. Ex. xxiv. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

I chose
Camillo for the minister, to poison
My friend Polixenes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An officer of justice. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I cry out the on the ministres, quod he,
That shoulde keep and rule this cité. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One to whom the sovereign or executive head of a government intrusts the management of affairs of state, or some department of such affairs. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A representative of a government, sent to the court, or seat of government, of a foreign nation to transact diplomatic business. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Ambassadors are classed (in the diplomatic sense) in the first rank of public ministers, ministers plenipotentiary in the second. “The United States diplomatic service employs two classes of ministers, -- ministers plenipotentiary and ministers resident.” Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One who serves at the altar; one who performs sacerdotal duties; the pastor of a church duly authorized or licensed to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Delegate; official; ambassador; clergyman; parson; priest. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ministered p. pr. & vb. n. Ministering. ] [ OE. ministren, OF. ministrer, fr. L. ministrare. See Minister, n. ] To furnish or apply; to afford; to supply; to administer. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that ministereth seed to the sower. 2 Cor. ix. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

We minister to God reason to suspect us. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To act as a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or secular. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Matt. xx. 28. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To supply or to things needful; esp., to supply consolation or remedies; as, to minister to the sick. Matt. xxv. 44. [ 1913 Webster ]

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ministerialis: cf. F. ministériel. See Minister, and cf. Minstrel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Of or pertaining to ministry or service; serving; attendant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Enlightening spirits and ministerial flames. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to the office of a minister or to the ministry as a body, whether civil or sacerdotal. “Ministerial offices.” Bacon. “A ministerial measure.” Junius. “Ministerial garments.” Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Tending to advance or promote; contributive. “Ministerial to intellectual culture.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ministerial benches, the benches in the House of Commons occupied by members of the cabinet and their supporters; -- also, the persons occupying them. “Very solid and very brilliant talents distinguish the ministerial benches.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Official; priestly; sacerdotal; ecclesiastical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A supporter of the ministers, or the party in power. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a ministerial manner; in the character or capacity of a minister. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Ministry. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Contr. from ne wiste. ] Wist not; knew not. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden. ] [ L. sinister: cf. F. sinistre. ] 1. On the left hand, or the side of the left hand; left; -- opposed to dexter, or right. “Here on his sinister cheek.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

My mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
Bounds in my father's Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In heraldy the sinister side of an escutcheon is the side which would be on the left of the bearer of the shield, and opposite the right hand of the beholder. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as, sinister influences. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the several ills that visit earth,
Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger; as, a sinister countenance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bar sinister. (Her.) See under Bar, n. --
Sinister aspect (Astrol.), an appearance of two planets happening according to the succession of the signs, as Saturn in Aries, and Mars in the same degree of Gemini. --
Sinister base,
Sinister chief. See under Escutcheon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Left-handed; hence, unlucky. [ Obs. ] Lovelace. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a sinister manner. Wood. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. subministrare, subministratum. See Sub-, and Ministre, v. t. ] To supply; to afford. [ Obs. ] Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be subservient; to be useful. [ Obs. ] “Our passions . . . subminister to the best and worst purposes.” L'EStrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To serve, or minister to, in a subordinate relation. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]