Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Refuge

Ref′uge (r?f′?j), n. [F. réfuge, L. refugium, fr. refugere to flee back; pref. re- + figere. SEe Fugitive.]

1. Shelter or protection from danger or distress.

Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these Find place or refuge. Milton.

We might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Heb. vi. 18.

2. That which shelters or protects from danger, or from distress or calamity; a stronghold which protects by its strength, or a sanctuary which secures safety by its sacredness; a place inaccessible to an enemy.

The high hills are a refuger the wild goats. Ps. civ. 18.

The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. Ps. ix. 9.

3. An expedient to secure protection or defense; a device or contrivance.

Their latest refuge Was to send him. Shak.

Light must be supplied, among gracefulrefuges, by terracing any story in danger of darkness. Sir H. Wotton.

Cities of refuge (Jewish Antiq.), certain cities appointed as places of safe refuge for persons who had committed homicide without design. Of these there were three on each side of Jordan. Josh. xx. — House of refuge, a charitable institution for giving shelter and protection to the homeless, destitute, or tempted.

Syn. — Shelter; asylum; retreat; covert.

Ref′uge (r?f′?j), v. t. To shelter; to protect. [Obs.]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.