to accept the report of a committee

When I used a couple of words that an Uncle from the Boston States considered beyond my years, he asked me if I had swallowed the dictionary.

[G]uests laced into the feast, the star of which was communal dishes of braised pigs’ feet.

[T]hey were very much surprized to find, upon inquiry, that Pallet could not swim, it being as natural for a Dutchman, as a deal-board,to float upon the surface.