having or showing a kindly or tender nature; "the gentle touch of her hand"; "her gentle manner was comforting"; "a gentle sensitive nature"; "gentle blue eyes"
quiet and soothing; "a gentle voice"; "a gentle nocturne"
soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe; "a gentle reprimand"; "a vein of gentle irony"; "poked gentle fun at him"
stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
prove insufficient; "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought"
disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis"
become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close; "The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor"; "A number of banks failed that year"
fall short in what is expected; "She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law"; "We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust"
fail to get a passing grade; "She studied hard but failed nevertheless"; "Did I fail the test?"
judge unacceptable; "The teacher failed six students"
be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
fail to do something; leave something undone; "She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib"; "The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account"
lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer; "We prolonged our stay"; "She extended her visit by another day"; "The meeting was drawn out until midnight"
lengthen or extend in duration or space; "We sustained the diplomatic negotiations as long as possible"; "prolong the treatment of the patient"; "keep up the good work"
a club-shaped hand tool for grinding and mixing substances in a mortar
a heavy tool of stone or iron (usually with a flat base and a handle) that is used to grind and mix material (as grain or drugs or pigments) against a slab of stone
grind, mash or pulverize in a mortar; "pestle the garlic"
the convergence of two parallel railroad tracks in a narrow place; the inner rails cross and run parallel and then diverge so a train remains on its own tracks at all times