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At large   /æt lɑrdʒ/   Listen
adjective
Large  adj.  (compar. larger; superl. largest)  
1.
Exceeding most other things of like kind in bulk, capacity, quantity, superficial dimensions, or number of constituent units; big; great; capacious; extensive; opposed to small; as, a large horse; a large house or room; a large lake or pool; a large jug or spoon; a large vineyard; a large army; a large city. Note: For linear dimensions, and mere extent, great, and not large, is used as a qualifying word; as, great length, breadth, depth; a great distance; a great height.
2.
Abundant; ample; as, a large supply of provisions. "We have yet large day."
3.
Full in statement; diffuse; full; profuse. "I might be very large upon the importance and advantages of education."
4.
Having more than usual power or capacity; having broad sympathies and generous impulses; comprehensive; said of the mind and heart.
5.
Free; unembarrassed. (Obs.) "Of burdens all he set the Paynims large."
6.
Unrestrained by decorum; said of language. (Obs.) "Some large jests he will make."
7.
Prodigal in expending; lavish. (Obs.)
8.
(Naut.) Crossing the line of a ship's course in a favorable direction; said of the wind when it is abeam, or between the beam and the quarter.
At large.
(a)
Without restraint or confinement; as, to go at large; to be left at large.
(b)
Diffusely; fully; in the full extent; as, to discourse on a subject at large.
Common at large. See under Common, n.
Electors at large, Representative at large, electors, or a representative, as in Congress, chosen to represent the whole of a State, in distinction from those chosen to represent particular districts in a State. (U. S.)
To give large, To go large, To run large, or To sail large (Naut.), to have the wind crossing the direction of a vessel's course in such a way that the sails feel its full force, and the vessel gains its highest speed. See Large, a., 8.
Synonyms: Big; bulky; huge; capacious; comprehensive; ample; abundant; plentiful; populous; copious; diffusive; liberal.



preposition
At  prep.  Primarily, this word expresses the relations of presence, nearness in place or time, or direction toward; as, at the ninth hour; at the house; to aim at a mark. It is less definite than in or on; at the house may be in or near the house. From this original import are derived all the various uses of at. It expresses: -
1.
A relation of proximity to, or of presence in or on, something; as, at the door; at your shop; at home; at school; at hand; at sea and on land.
2.
The relation of some state or condition; as, at war; at peace; at ease; at your service; at fault; at liberty; at risk; at disadvantage.
3.
The relation of some employment or action; occupied with; as, at engraving; at husbandry; at play; at work; at meat (eating); except at puns.
4.
The relation of a point or position in a series, or of degree, rate, or value; as, with the thermometer at 80°; goods sold at a cheap price; a country estimated at 10,000 square miles; life is short at the longest.
5.
The relations of time, age, or order; as, at ten o'clock; at twenty-one; at once; at first.
6.
The relations of source, occasion, reason, consequence, or effect; as, at the sight; at this news; merry at anything; at this declaration; at his command; to demand, require, receive, deserve, endure at your hands.
7.
Relation of direction toward an object or end; as, look at it; to point at one; to aim at a mark; to throw, strike, shoot, wink, mock, laugh at any one.
At all, At home, At large, At last, At length, At once, etc. See under All, Home, Large, Last (phrase and syn.), Length, Once, etc.
At it, busily or actively engaged.
At least. See Least and However.
At one. See At one, in the Vocabulary.
Synonyms: In, At. When reference to the interior of any place is made prominent in is used. It is used before the names of countries and cities (esp. large cities); as, we live in America, in New York, in the South. At is commonly employed before names of houses, institutions, villages, and small places; as, Milton was educated at Christ's College; money taken in at the Customhouse; I saw him at the jeweler's; we live at Beachville. At may be used before the name of a city when it is regarded as a mere point of locality. "An English king was crowned at Paris." "Jean Jacques Rousseau was born at Geneva, June, 28, 1712." In regard to time, we say at the hour, on the day, in the year; as, at 9 o'clock, on the morning of July 5th, in the year 1775.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"At large" Quotes from Famous Books



... Soup.—At large and formal dinners a clear soup is in vogue. Your soup spoon will be on the knife side of your plate. Soup is eaten from the side and not from the end of the spoon. The motion of the hand guiding the spoon is toward and not from you. Take soup in small spoonfuls, and use ...
— The Complete Bachelor - Manners for Men • Walter Germain

... uses as cattle and sheep-raising became subdivided into innumerable small holdings. He beheld a new country in the making, and the passing of the pioneer who settled vital differences with a pistol. During those years some noted outlaws ranged at large in the county here spoken of as San Lorenzo. The Dalton gang of train robbers lived and died (some with their boots on) not far from the village entitled Paradise. Stage coaches were robbed frequently. Every ...
— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell

... other organs, but preeminently of the urinary organs and the udder, and finally the sudden extreme derangements of the circulation and of the nervous functions which attend on the sudden revulsion of a great mass of blood from the walls of the contracting womb into the body at large ...
— Special Report on Diseases of Cattle • U.S. Department of Agriculture

... longspun^, long drawn out; spun out, protracted, prolix, prosing, maundering; circumlocutory, periphrastic, ambagious^, roundabout; digressive; discursive, excursive; loose; rambling episodic; flatulent, frothy. Adv. diffusely &c adj.; at large, in extenso [Lat.]; about ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... occasion. This spirit he sought to kindle yet more by reading missionary intelligence for his own use, and often to his people at his weekly prayer-meeting. The necessities both of his own parish, and of the world at large, lay heavy on his soul; and when an opportunity of evangelizing occurred, there was none in Scotland more ready to embrace it. He seemed one who stood with his loins girt: ...
— The Biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne • Andrew A. Bonar


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