Part 369

Com"fort*a*bly, adv. In a comfortable or comforting manner.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Is. xl. 2.

Com"fort*er (?), n. 1. One who administers comfort or consolation.

Let no comforter delight mine ear But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine. Shak.

2. (Script.) The Holy Spirit, -- referring to his office of comforting believers.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. John xiv. 26.

3. A knit woolen tippet, long and narrow. [U. S.]

The American schoolboy takes off his comforter and unbuttons his jacket before going in for a snowball fight. Pop. Sci. Monthly.

4. A wadded bedquilt; a comfortable. [U. S.]

Job's comforter, a boil. [Colloq.]

Com"fort*less, a. Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless.

Comfortless through tyranny or might. Spenser.

Syn. -- Forlorn; desolate; cheerless; inconsolable; disconsolate; wretched; miserable.

-- Com"fort*less*ly, adv. -- Com"fort*less*ness, n.

When all is coldly, comfortlessly costly. Milton.

Com"fort*ment (?), n. Act or process of administering comfort. [Obs.]

The gentle comfortment and entertainment of the said embassador. Hakluyt.

Com"fort*ress (?), n. A woman who comforts.

To be your comfortress, and to preserve you. B. Jonson.

Com"frey (?), n. [Prob. from F. conferve, L. conferva, fr. confervere to boil together, in medical language, to heal, grow together. So called on account of its healing power, for which reason it was also called consolida.] (Bot.) A rough, hairy, perennial plant of several species, of the genus Symphytum.

&fist; A decoction of the mucilaginous root of the "common comfrey" (S. officinale) is used in cough mixtures, etc.; and the gigantic "prickly comfrey" (S. asperrimum) is somewhat cultivated as a forage plant.

Com"ic (?), a. [L. comicus pertaining to comedy, Gr. &?;: cf. F. comique. See Comedy.] 1. Relating to comedy, as distinct from tragedy.

I can not for the stage a drama lay, Tragic or comic, but thou writ'st the play. B. Jonson.

2. Causing mirth; ludicrous. "Comic shows." Shak.

Com"ic, n. A comedian. [Obs.] Steele.

Com"ic*al (?), a. 1. Relating to comedy.

They deny it to be tragical because its catastrophe is a wedding, which hath ever been accounted comical. Gay.

2. Exciting mirth; droll; laughable; as, a comical story. "Comical adventures." Dryden.