doubt an cet

[The binserted as in the verb; 41. To fear; be afraid of. Myche dut he his dreme, & dred hym therfore. Eglentine, thys Kinges doughter fre, Off Paynymes had gret fere and doubt ance. The unsettled doubters , that are in most danger to be seduced. Hammond, Works, II. ii. 67. doubtful (dout'fül), a. [ doubt + -ful. The earlier adj. was doutous : see doubtous .] 1. Full of doubt; having doubt; not settled in opinion. To a ist the doubtful Wouter in the arduous busine of legislation, a board of magistrates was appointed. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 155. 2. Causing doubt; dubious; ambiguous; uncertain; not distinct in character, meaning, or appearance; vague: as, a doubtful expre ion; a doubtful hue. A doubtful day Of chill and slowly greening spring. Whittier, What the Birds Said. Till now the doubtful dusk reveal'd The knolls once more where, couch'd at ease, The white kine glimmer'd. Tennyson, In Memoriam, xcv. Now the full-leaved trees might well forget The changeful agony of doubtful spring. William Morris , Earthly Paradise, I. 280. 3. Admitting of or subject to doubt; not obvious, clear, or certain; questionable. I will adopt some beggar's doubtful i ue, Before thou shalt inherit. Fletcher ( and another ), Elder Brother, iv. 1. For where the event of a great action is left doubtful , there the poet is left master. Dryden, Don Sebastian, Pref. It is always the person of doubtful virtue who is most eager to a ume the appearance of severe integrity. J. T. Trow bridge , Coupon Bonds, p. 108. 4. Of uncertain i ue; precarious; shifting. Who have sustain'd one day in doubtful fight. Milton , P. L., vi. 423. Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. Add is on, The Campaign. 5. Of questionable or suspected character. She never employed doubtful agents or sinister me a Pre scott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 16. sures. 6t. Fearful; apprehensive; suspicious. So long they stayed that the King grew doubt full of their bad vsage, that he swore by the Skies, if they returned not well, he would haue warres with Ope chank anough so long as he had any thing. Quoted in Capt . John Smith's True Travels, II. 86. 7. Indicating doubt; disturbed by doubt. [Rare.] With doubtful feet and wavering resolution I came. Milton , S. A., 1. 732. 8. In pros., variable in quantity; capable of being pronounced or measured either as a long or as a short; common; dichronous. =Syn. 1. Uncertain, undecided.-2. Dubious, Equivocal, etc. (see ob scure, a.); problematic, enigmatical. doubtfully (dout'fül-i), adv. In a doubtful manner; with doubt or hesitation; so as to indicate or admit of doubt. When we speake or write doubtfully , and that the sence may be taken two wayes, such ambiguous termes they call Amphibologia, we call it the ambiguous. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 217. I came to the court and very privately discovered to her majesty this conspiracy... She took it doubt fully . I departed with fear. State Trials , William Parry, an. 1584. How doubtfully these spectres fate foretel! In double sense and twilight truth they dwell. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, iv. 1. Tints softly with each other blended, Hues doubtfully begun and ended. Words worth, Bird of Paradise. 1. A state of