OPTED v0.03 Letter New

Gazduire site-uri web nelimitata ca spatiu si trafic lunar la doar 15 eur / an. Inregistrare domenii .ro .com .net .org .info .biz .com.ro .org.ro la preturi preferentiale. Pentru oferta detaliata accesati site-ul BluePink

Abra (n.) A narrow pass or defile; a break in a mesa; the mouth of a ca–on.

Acclamation (n.) In parliamentary usage, the act or method of voting orally and by groups rather than by ballot, esp. in elections;

Acclamation (n.) the election of a pope or other ecclesiastic by unanimous consent of the electors, without a ballot.

Ace (n.) A single point won by a stroke, as in handball, rackets, etc.; in tennis, frequently, a point won by a service stroke.

-nemia (n.) A morbid condition characterized by the presence of acetone in the blood, as in diabetes.

Acetonuria (n.) Excess of acetone in the urine, as in starvation or diabetes.

Acetophenone (n.) A crystalline ketone, CH3COC6H5, which may be obtained by the dry distillation of a mixture of the calcium salts of acetic and benzoic acids. It is used as a hypnotic under the name of hypnone.

A cheval () Astride; with a part on each side; -- used specif. in designating the position of an army with the wings separated by some line of demarcation, as a river or road.

Achromic (a.) Free from color; colorless; as, in Physiol. Chem., the achromic point of a starch solution acted upon by an amylolytic enzyme is the point at which it fails to give any color with iodine.

Acid process () That variety of either the Bessemer or the open-hearth process in which the converter or hearth is lined with acid, that is, highly siliceous, material. Opposed to basic process.

Aconitic (a.) Pert. to or designating a crystalline tribasic acid, /, obtained from aconite and other plants. It is a carboxyl derivative of itaconic acid.

Actinomycosis (n.) A chronic infectious disease of cattle and man due to the presence of Actinomyces bovis. It causes local suppurating tumors, esp. about the jaw. Called also lumpy jaw or big jaw.

Actinophone (n.) An apparatus for the production of sound by the action of the actinic, or ultraviolet, rays.

Actinophonic (a.) Pertaining to, or causing the production of, sound by means of the actinic, or ultraviolet, rays; as, actinophonic phenomena.

Acutorsion (n.) The twisting of an artery with a needle to arrest hemorrhage.

Acyclic (a.) Of a flower, having its parts inserted spirally on the receptacle.

Adenoid (n.) A swelling produced by overgrowth of the adenoid tissue in the roof of the pharynx; -- usually in pl.

Adenoma (n.) A benign tumor of a glandlike structure; morbid enlargement of a gland.

Aden ulcer () A disease endemic in various parts of tropical Asia, due to a specific microorganism which produces chronic ulcers on the limbs. It is often fatal. Called also Cochin China ulcer, Persian ulcer, tropical ulcer, etc.

Adios (interj.) Adieu; farewell; good-by; -- chiefly used among Spanish-speaking people.

Adipolytic (a.) Hydrolyzing fats; converting neutral fats into glycerin and free fatty acids, esp. by the action of an enzyme; as, adipolytic action.

Adipose (n.) The fat present in the cells of adipose tissue, composed mainly of varying mixtures of tripalmitin, tristearin, and triolein. It solidifies after death.

surface () A small plane or surface, usually capable of adjustment but not of manipulation, for preserving lateral balance in an aeroplane or flying machine.

Adobe (n.) Alluvial and playa clays of desert and arid regions, differing from ordinary clays of humid regions in containing carbonates and other soluble minerals.

Adonai (n.) A Hebrew name for God, usually translated in the Old Testament by the word "Lord".

Adrenalin () A crystalline substance, C9H13O3N, obtained from suprarenal extract, of which it is regarded as the active principle. It is used in medicine as a stimulant and hemostatic.

Adsuki bean () A cultivated variety of the Asiatic gram, now introduced into the United States.

Adurol (n.) Either of two compounds, a chlorine derivative and bromine derivative, of hydroquinone, used as developers.

Advancing edge () The front edge (in direction of motion) of a supporting surface; -- contr. with following edge, which is the rear edge.

Advancing surface () The first of two or more surfaces arranged in tandem; -- contr. with following surface, which is the rear surface.

Aeolic (a.) Pertaining to, caused by, or designating, the action of the wind in modifiying the earth's surface; as, aeolic erosion; aeolic sand.

Aerator (n.) An apparatus used for charging mineral waters with gas and in making soda water.

Aerator (n.) A fumigator used to bleach grain, destroying fungi and insects.

Aerenchyma (n.) A secondary respiratory tissue or modified periderm, found in many aquatic plants and distinguished by the large intercellular spaces.

Aerial railway () A stretched wire or rope elevated above the ground and forming a way along which a trolley may travel, for conveying a load suspended from the trolley.

Aerial sickness () A sickness felt by aeronauts due to high speed of flights and rapidity in changing altitudes, combining some symptoms of mountain sickness and some of seasickness.

Aerobic (a.) Growing or thriving only in the presence of oxygen; also, pertaining to, or induced by, aerobies; as, aerobic fermentation.

Aerocurve (n.) A modification of the aeroplane, having curved surfaces, the advantages of which were first demonstrated by Lilienthal.

Aerodrome (n.) A ground or field, esp. one equipped with housing and other facilities, used for flying purposes.

Aerofoil (n.) A plane or arched surface for sustaining bodies by its movement through the air; a spread wing, as of a bird.

Aerogun (n.) A cannon capable of being trained at very high angles for use against aircraft.

Aeromechanic (n.) A mechanic or mechanician expert in the art and practice of aeronautics.

Aeromechanics (n.) The science of equilibrium and motion of air or an aeriform fluid, including aerodynamics and aerostatics.

Aerophone (n.) An instrument, proposed by Edison, for greatly intensifying speech. It consists of a phonograph diaphragm so arranged that its action opens and closes valves, producing synchronous air blasts sufficient to operate a larger diaphragm with greater amplitude of vibration.

Aeroplane (n.) A light rigid plane used in aerial navigation to oppose sudden upward or downward movement in the air, as in gliding machines; specif., such a plane slightly inclined and driven forward as a lifting device in some flying machines; hence, a flying machine using such a device. These machines are called monoplanes, biplanes, triplanes, or quadruplanes, according to the number of main supporting planes used in their constraction. Being heavier than air they depend for their levitation on motion imparted by one or more propellers actuated by a gasoline engine. They start from the ground by a run on small wheels or runners, and are guided by a steering apparatus consisting of horizontal and vertical movable planes. There are many varieties of form and construction, which in some cases are known by the names of their inventors.

Aerotaxis (n.) The positive or negative stimulus exerted by oxygen on aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

Aerotherapentics (n.) Treatment of disease by the use of air or other gases.

Aesir (n. pl.) In the old Norse mythology, the gods Odin, Thor, Loki, Balder, Frigg, and the others. Their home was called Asgard.

Affect (n.) The emotional complex associated with an idea or mental state. In hysteria, the affect is sometimes entirely dissociated, sometimes transferred to another than the original idea.

Affiche (n.) A written or printed notice to be posted, as on a wall; a poster; a placard.

Affricate (n.) A combination of a stop, or explosive, with an immediately following fricative or spirant of corresponding organic position, as pf in german Pfeffer, pepper, z (= ts) in German Zeit, time.

Afloat (adv. & a.) Covered with water bearing floating articles; flooded; as, the decks are afloat.

Aftersensation (n.) A sensation or sense impression following the removal of a stimulus producing a primary sensation, and reproducing the primary sensation in positive, negative, or complementary form. The aftersensation may be continuous with the primary sensation or follow it after an interval.

Agar-agar (n.) A gelatinlike substance, or a solution of it, prepared from certain seaweeds containing gelose, and used in the artificial cultivation of bacteria; -- often called agar, by abbreviation.

Age (n.) In poker, the right belonging to the player to the left of the dealer to pass the first round in betting, and then to come in last or stay out; also, the player holding this position; the eldest hand.

Aggrade (v. t.) To bring, or tend to bring, to a uniform grade, or slope, by addition of material; as, streams aggrade their beds by depositing sediment.

Agnus Scythicus () The Scythian lamb, a kind of woolly-skinned rootstock. See Barometz.

Agrotechny (n.) That branch of agriculture dealing with the methods of conversion of agricultural products into manufactured articles; agricultural technology.

Aileron (n.) A half gable, as at the end of a penthouse or of the aisle of a church.

Aileron (n.) A small plane or surface capable of being manipulated by the pilot of a flying machine to preserve or destroy lateral balance; a hinged wing tip; a lateral stabilizing or balancing plane.

Air brush () A kind of atomizer for applying liquid coloring matter in a spray by compressed air.

Air cooling () In gasoline-engine motor vehicles, the cooling of the cylinder by increasing its radiating surface by means of ribs or radiators, and placing it so that it is exposed to a current of air. Cf. Water cooling.

Aircraft (n. sing. & pl.) Any device, as a balloon, aeroplane, etc., for floating in, or flying through, the air.

Air gap () An air-filled gap in a magnetic or electric circuit; specif., in a dynamo or motor, the space between the field-magnet poles and the armature; clearance.

Air hole () A local region in the atmosphere having a downward movement and offering less than normal support for the sustaining surfaces of a flying machine.

Air line () A path through the air made easy for aerial navigation by steady winds.

Airman (n.) A man who ascends or flies in an aircraft; a flying machine pilot.

Airmanship (n.) Art, skill, or ability in the practice of aerial navigation.

Airol (n.) A grayish green antiseptic powder, consisting of a basic iodide and gallate of bismuth, sometimes used in place of iodoform.

Ajowan (n.) The fruit of Ammi Copticum, syn. Carum Ajowan, used both as a medicine and as a condiment. An oil containing thymol is extracted from it. Called also Javanee seed, Javanese seed, and ajava.

Alalia (n.) Inability to utter articulate sounds, due either to paralysis of the larynx or to that form of aphasia, called motor, or ataxis, aphasia, due to loss of control of the muscles of speech.

Albert ware () A soft ornamental terra-cotta pottery, sold in the biscuit state for decorating.

Alb Sunday () The first Sunday after Easter Sunday, properly Albless Sunday, because in the early church those who had been baptized on Easter eve laid aside on the following Saturday their white albs which had been put on after baptism.

Albuminosis (n.) A morbid condition due to excessive increase of albuminous elements in the blood.

Alcaldia (n.) The jurisdiction or office of an alcalde; also, the building or chamber in which he conducts the business of his office.

Alcornoque (n.) The bark of several trees, esp. of Bowdichia virgilioides of Brazil, used as a remedy for consumption; of Byrsonima crassifolia, used in tanning; of Alchornea latifolia, used medicinally; or of Quercus ilex, the cork tree.

Alder fly () Any of numerous neuropterous insects of the genus Sialis or allied genera. They have aquatic larvae, which are used for bait.

Alder fly () An artificial fly with brown mottled wings, body of peacock harl, and black legs.

Aldol (n.) A colorless liquid, C4H8O2, obtained by condensation of two molecules of acetaldehyde: CH3CHO + CH3CHO = H3CH(OH)CH2CO; also, any of various derivatives of this. The same reaction has been applied, under the name of aldol condensation, to the production of many compounds.

evil () A chronic skin affection terminating in an ulcer, most commonly of the face. It is endemic along the Mediterranean, and is probably due to a specific bacillus. Called also Aleppo ulcer, Biskara boil, Delhi boil, Oriental sore, etc.

Aleppo grass () One of the cultivated forms of Andropogon Halepensis (syn. Sorghum Halepense). See Andropogon, below.

Aleuronat (n.) Flour made of aleurone, used as a substitute for ordinary flour in preparing bread for diabetic persons.

Alexia (n.) More commonly, inability, due to brain disease, to understand written or printed symbols although they can be seen, as in case of word blindness.

Algin (n.) A nitrogenous substance resembling gelatin, obtained from certain algae.

Algometer (n.) An instrument for measuring sensations of pain due to pressure. It has a piston rod with a blunted tip which is pressed against the skin.

Algonkian (a.) Pertaining to or designating a period or era recognized by the United States Geological Survey and some other authorities, between the Archaean and the Paleozoic, from both of which it is generally separated in the record by unconformities. Algonkian rocks are both sedimentary and igneous. Although fossils are rare, life certainly existed in this period.

Algonquian (a.) Pertaining to or designating the most extensive of the linguistic families of North American Indians, their territory formerly including practically all of Canada east of the 115th meridian and south of Hudson's Bay and the part of the United States east of the Mississippi and north of Tennessee and Virginia, with the exception of the territory occupied by the northern Iroquoian tribes. There are nearly 100,000 Indians of the Algonquian tribes, of which the strongest are the Ojibwas (Chippewas), Ottawas, Crees, Algonquins, Micmacs, and Blackfeet.

Aliphatic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, fat; fatty; -- applied to compounds having an openc-hain structure. The aliphatic compounds thus include not only the fatty acids and other derivatives of the paraffin hydrocarbons, but also unsaturated compounds, as the ethylene and acetylene series.

Alkali (n.) Soluble mineral matter, other than common salt, contained in soils of natural waters.

Alkali flat () A sterile plain, containing an excess of alkali, at the bottom of an undrained basin in an arid region; a playa.

Alkali soil () Any one of various soils found in arid and semiarid regions, containing an unusual amount of soluble mineral salts which effloresce in the form of a powder or crust (usually white) in dry weather following rains or irrigation. The basis of these salts is mainly soda with a smaller amount of potash, and usually a little lime and magnesia. Two main classes of alkali are commonly distinguished: black alkali, which may be any alkaline carbonate, but which practically consists of sodium carbonate (sal soda), which is highly corrosive and destructive to vegetation; and white alkali, characterized by the presence of sodium sulphate (Glauber's salt), which is less injurious to vegetation. Black alkali is so called because water containing it dissolves humus, forming a dark-colored solution which, when it collects in puddles and evaporates, produces characteristic black spots.

Alkali waste () Waste material from the manufacture of alkali; specif., soda waste.

Alleghanian () Pertaining to or designating the humid division of the Transition zone extending across the northern United States from New England to eastern Dakota, and including also most of Pennsylvania and the mountainous region as far south as northern Georgia.

Allegheny (a.) Of or pertaining to the Allegheny Mountains, or the region where they are situated. Also Al"le*gha`ny.

Alleghany () Pertaining to or designating a subdivision of the Pennsylvanian coal measure.

Allelomorph (n.) One of the pure unit characters commonly existing singly or in pairs in the germ cells of Mendelian hybrids, and exhibited in varying proportion among the organisms themselves. Allelomorphs which under certain circumstances are themselves compound are called hypallelomorphs. See Mendel's law.

Alligator wrench () A kind of pipe wrench having a flaring jaw with teeth on one side.

Allotrophic (a.) Changed or modified in nutritive power by the process of digestion.

Allotrophic (a.) Dependent upon other organisms for nutrition; heterotrophic; -- said of plants unable to perform photosynthesis, as all saprophytes; -- opposed to autotrophic.

Alloy steel () Any steel containing a notable quantity of some other metal alloyed with the iron, usually chromium, nickel, manganese, tungsten, or vanadium.

Alluvial (n.) Alluvial soil; specif., in Australia, gold-bearing alluvial soil.

Alpenglow (n.) A reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains; specif., a reillumination sometimes observed after the summits have passed into shadow, supposed to be due to a curving downward (refraction) of the light rays from the west resulting from the cooling of the air.

Alphorn (n.) A curved wooden horn about three feet long, with a cupped mouthpiece and a bell, used by the Swiss to sound the ranz des vaches and other melodies. Its notes are open harmonics of the tube.

Alpestrine (a.) Growing on the elevated parts of mountains, but not above the timbe/ line; subalpine.

Alpha paper () A sensitized paper for obtaining positives by artificial light. It is coated with gelatin containing silver bromide and chloride.

Alpha rays () Rays of relatively low penetrating power emitted by radium and other radioactive substances, and shown to consist of positively charged particles (perhaps particles of helium) having enormous velocities but small masses. They are slightly deflected by a strong magnetic or electric field.

Alphol (n.) A crystalline derivative of salicylic acid, used as an antiseptic and antirheumatic.

Alternat (n.) A usage, among diplomats, of rotation in precedence among representatives of equal rank, sometimes determined by lot and at other times in regular order. The practice obtains in the signing of treaties and conventions between nations.

Alternating current () A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow.

Alternator (n.) An electric generator or dynamo for producing alternating currents.

Althing (n.) The national assembly or parliament of Iceland. See Thing, n., 8.

Alto-cumulus (n.) A fleecy cloud formation consisting of large whitish or grayish globular cloudlets with shaded portions, often grouped in flocks or rows.

Alto-stratus (n.) A cloud formation similar to cirro-stratus, but heavier and at a lower level.

Aluminography (n.) Art or process of producing, and printing from, aluminium plates, after the manner of ordinary lithography.

Alveolar (a.) Articulated with the tip of the tongue pressing against the alveolar processes of the upper front teeth.

Amanita (n.) A genus of poisonous fungi of the family Agaricaceae, characterized by having a volva, an annulus, and white spores. The species resemble edible mushrooms, and are frequently mistaken for them. Amanita muscaria, syn. Agaricus muscarius, is the fly amanita, or fly agaric; and A. phalloides is the death cup.

Ambary hemp () A valuable East Indian fiber plant (Hibiscus cannabinus), or its fiber, which is used throughout India for making ropes, cordage, and a coarse canvas and sackcloth; -- called also brown Indian hemp.

Amboyna button () A chronic contagious affection of the skin, prevalent in the tropics.

Ambrosia (n.) The food of certain small bark beetles, family Scolytidae believed to be fungi cultivated by the beetles in their burrows.

American plan () In hotels, aplan upon which guests pay for both room and board by the day, week, or other convenient period; -- contrasted with European plan.

American Protective Association () A secret organization in the United States, formed in Iowa in 1887, ostensibly for the protection of American institutions by keeping Roman Catholics out of public office. Abbrev. commonly to A. P .A.

Amidol (n.) A salt of a diamino phenol, C6H3(OH)(NH2)2, used as a developer.

Amigo (n.) A friend; -- a Spanish term applied in the Philippine Islands to friendly natives.

Aminol (n.) A colorless liquid prepared from herring brine and containing amines, used as a local antiseptic.

Amish (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the followers of Jacob Amman, a strict Mennonite of the 17th century, who even proscribed the use of buttons and shaving as "worldly conformity". There are several branches of Amish Mennonites in the United States.

Amitosis (n.) Cell division in which there is first a simple cleavage of the nucleus without change in its structure (such as the formation of chromosomes), followed by the division of the cytoplasm; direct cell division; -- opposed to mitosis. It is not the usual mode of division, and is believed by many to occur chiefly in highly specialized cells which are incapable of long-continued multiplication, in transitory structures, and in those in early stages of degeneration.

Amitotic (a.) Of or pertaining to amitosis; karyostenotic; -- opposed to mitotic.

Ammonal (n.) An explosive consisting of a mixture of powdered aluminium and nitrate of ammonium.

Ammoniacal fermentation () Any fermentation process by which ammonia is formed, as that by which urea is converted into ammonium carbonate when urine is exposed to the air.

Amole (n.) Any detergent plant, or the part of it used as a detergent, as the roots of Agave Americana, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, etc.

Amperage (n.) The strength of a current of electricity carried by a conductor or generated by a machine, measured in amperes.

Ampere foot () A unit, employed in calculating fall of pressure in distributing mains, equivalent to a current of one ampere flowing through one foot of conductor.

Ampere hour () The quantity of electricity delivered in one hour by a current whose average strength is one ampere. It is used as a unit of quantity, and is equal to 3600 coulombs. The terms Ampere minute and Ampere second are sometimes similarly used.

Ampere turn () A unit equal to the product of one complete convolution (of a coiled conductor) into one ampere of current; thus, a conductor having five convolutions and carrying a current of half an ampere is said to have 2/ ampere turns. The magnetizing effect of a coil is proportional to the number of its ampere turns.

Amvis (n.) An explosive consisting of ammonium nitrate, a derivative of nitrobenzene, chlorated napthalene, and wood meal.

Amygdala (n.) One of the rounded prominences of the lower surface of the lateral hemispheres of the cerebellum, each side of the vallecula.

Amyl alcohol () Any of eight isomeric liquid compounds, C5H11OH; ordinarily, a mixture of two of these forming a colorless liquid with a peculiar cough-exciting odor and burning taste, the chief constituent of fusel oil. It is used as a source of amyl compounds, such as amyl acetate, amyl nitrite, etc.

Amyl nitrite () A yellowish oily volatile liquid, C5H11NO2, used in medicine as a heart stimulant and a vasodilator. The inhalation of its vapor instantly produces flushing of the face.

Amylogen (n.) That part of the starch granule or granulose which is soluble in water.

Amylolysis (n.) The conversion of starch into soluble products, as dextrins and sugar, esp. by the action of enzymes.

Amylometer (n.) Instrument for determining the amount of starch in a substance.

Anabranch (n.) A branch of a river that reenters, or anastomoses with, the main stream; also, less properly, a branch which loses itself in sandy soil.

Anaerobes (n. pl.) Anaerobic bacteria. They are called facultative anaerobia when able to live either in the presence or absence of free oxygen; obligate, or obligatory, anaerobia when they thrive only in its absence.

Anaerobic (a.) Not requiring air or oxygen for life; -- applied especially to those microbes to which free oxygen is unnecessary; anaerobiotic; -- opposed to aerobic.

Analgene (n.) A crystalline compound used as an antipyretic and analgesic, employed chiefly in rheumatism and neuralgia. It is a complex derivative of quinoline.

Anamorphoscope (n.) An instrument for restoring a picture or image distorted by anamorphosis to its normal proportions. It usually consists of a cylindrical mirror.

Anastigmatic (a.) Not astigmatic; -- said esp. of a lens system which consists of a converging lens and a diverging lens of equal and opposite astigmatism but different focal lengths, and sensibly free from astigmatism.

Anastomose (v. i.) Of any channels or lines, to meet and unite or run into each other, as rivers; to coalesce; to interjoin.

Anchor escapement () A variety of the lever escapement with a wide impulse pin.

Anchor light () The lantern shown at night by a vessel at anchor. International rules of the road require vessels at anchor to carry from sunset to sunrise a single white light forward if under 150 feet in length, and if longer, two such lights, one near the stern and one forward.

Anchor space () In the balk-line game, any of eight spaces, 7 inches by 3/, lying along a cushion and bisected transversely by a balk line. Object balls in an anchor space are treated as in balk.

Anchor watch () A detail of one or more men who keep watch on deck at night when a vessel is at anchor.

Ancillary administration () An administration subordinate to, and in aid of, the primary or principal administration of an estate.

Androcephalous (a.) Having a human head (upon an animal's body), as the Egyptian sphinx.

Andromed (n.) A meteor appearing to radiate from a point in the constellation Andromeda, -- whence the name.

Andropogon (n.) A very large and important genus of grasses, found in nearly all parts of the world. It includes the lemon grass of Ceylon and the beard grass, or broom sedge, of the United States. The principal subgenus is Sorghum, including A. sorghum and A. halepensis, from which have been derived the Chinese sugar cane, the Johnson grass, the Aleppo grass, the broom corn, and the durra, or Indian millet. Several East Indian species, as A. nardus and A. schoenanthus, yield fragrant oils, used in perfumery.

Anemosis (n.) A condition in the wood of some trees in which the rings are separated, as some suppose, by the action of high winds upon the trunk; wind shake.

Angioneurosis (n.) Any disorder of the vasomotor system; neurosis of a blood vessel.

Angle of entry () The angle between the tangent to the advancing edge (of an aerocurve) and the line of motion; -- contrasted with angle of trail, which is the angle between the tangent to the following edge and the line of motion.

Angle of incidence () The angle between the chord of an aerocurve and the relative direction of the undisturbed air current.

Anglo-Catholicism (n.) The belief of those in the Church of England who accept many doctrines and practices which they maintain were those of the primitive, or true, Catholic Church, of which they consider the Church of England to be the lineal descendant.

Angusticlave (n.) A narrow stripe of purple worn by the equites on each side of the tunic as a sign of rank.

Anilinism (n.) A disease due to inhaling the poisonous fumes present in the manufacture of aniline.

Animalculism (n.) The theory that the spermatozoon and not the ovum contains the whole of the embryo; spermatism; -- opposed to ovism.

Anisol (n.) Methyl phenyl ether, C6H5OCH3, got by distilling anisic acid or by the action of methide on potassium phenolate.

Anisospore (n.) A sexual spore in which the sexes differ in size; -- opposed to isospore.

Anisyl (n.) The univalent radical, CH3OC6H4, of which anisol is the hydride.

Ankh (n.) A tau cross with a loop at the top, used as an attribute or sacred emblem, symbolizing generation or enduring life. Called also crux ansata.

Ankus (n.) An elephant goad with a sharp spike and hook, resembling a short-handled boat hook.

Ankylostomiasis (n.) A disease due to the presence of the parasites Agchylostoma duodenale, Uncinaria (subgenus Necator) americana, or allied nematodes, in the small intestine. When present in large numbers they produce a severe anaemia by sucking the blood from the intestinal walls. Called also miner's anaemia, tunnel disease, brickmaker's anaemia, Egyptian chlorosis.

Annunciation lily () The common white lily (Lilium candidum). So called because it is usually introduced by painters in pictures of the Annunciation.

Anoetic (a.) Not subject to conscious attention; having an indefinite, relatively passive, conscious being; characteristic of the "fringe" or "margin" of consciousness.

Anopheles (n.) A genus of mosquitoes which are secondary hosts of the malaria parasites, and whose bite is the usual, if not the only, means of infecting human beings with malaria. Several species are found in the United States. They may be distinguished from the ordinary mosquitoes of the genus Culex by the long slender palpi, nearly equaling the beak in length, while those of the female Culex are very short. They also assume different positions when resting, Culex usually holding the body parallel to the surface on which it rests and keeping the head and beak bent at an angle, while Anopheles holds the body at an angle with the surface and the head and beak in line with it. Unless they become themselves infected by previously biting a subject affected with malaria, the insects cannot transmit the disease.

Anorthoclase (n.) A feldspar closely related to orthoclase, but triclinic. It is chiefly a silicate of sodium, potassium, and aluminium. Sp. gr., 2.57 -- 2.60.

Anorthosite (n.) A granular igneous rock composed almost exclusively of a soda-lime feldspar, usually labradorite.

-emia (n.) An abnormal condition due to deficient aeration of the blood, as in balloon sickness, mountain sickness.

Antechoir (n.) A space inclosed or reserved at the entrance to the choir, for the clergy and choristers.

Antechoir (n.) Where a choir is divided, as in some Spanish churches, that division of it which is the farther from the sanctuary.

Ante mortem () Before death; -- generally used adjectivelly; as, an ante-mortem statement; ante-mortem examination.

Anthophilous (a.) Lit., fond of flowers; hence, feeding upon, or living among, flowers.

Anthracene oil () A heavy green oil (partially solidifying on cooling), which distills over from coal tar at a temperature above 270¡. It is the principal source of anthracene.

Anthracnose (n.) Any one of several fungus diseases, caused by parasitic species of the series Melanconiales, attacking the bean, grape, melon, cotton, and other plants. In the case of the grape, brown concave spots are formed on the stem and fruit, and the disease is called bird's-eye rot.

Anthracosis (n.) A chronic lung disease, common among coal miners, due to the inhalation of coal dust; -- called also collier's lung and miner's phthisis.

Anthrax vaccine () A fluid vaccine obtained by growing a bacterium (Bacterium anthracis) in beef broth. It is used to immunize animals, esp. cattle.

Anthropogeography (n.) The science of the human species as to geographical distribution and environment. Broadly, it includes industrial, commercial, and political geography, and that part of ethnology which deals with distribution and physical environment.

Anthroponomy (n.) The science of the laws of the development of the human organism in relation to other organisms and to environment.

Antibacterial (a.) Inimical to bacteria; -- applied esp. to serum for protection against bacterial diseases.

Antibody (n.) Any of various bodies or substances in the blood which act in antagonism to harmful foreign bodies, as toxins or the bacteria producing the toxins. Normal blood serum apparently contains variousantibodies, and the introduction of toxins or of foreign cells also results in the development of their specific antibodies.

Antibubonic (a.) Good or used against bubonic plague; as, antibubonic serum, obtained from immunized horses; antibubonic vaccine, a sterilized bouillon culture of the plague bacillus; antibubonic measures.

Anticline (n.) A structure of bedded rocks in which the beds on both sides of an axis or axial plane dip away from the axis; an anticlinal.

Anticoherer (n.) A device, one form of which consists of a scratched deposit of silver on glass, used in connection with the receiving apparatus for reading wireless signals. The electric waves falling on this contrivance increase its resistance several times. The anticoherer can be used in conjunction with a telephone.

Antidiphtheritic (a.) Destructive to, or hindering the growth of, diphtheria bacilli.

Anti-imperialism (n.) Opposition to imperialism; -- applied specif., in the United States, after the Spanish-American war (1898), to the attitude or principles of those opposing territorial expansion; in England, of those, often called Little Englanders, opposing the extension of the empire and the closer relation of its parts, esp. in matters of commerce and imperial defense.

Antimonsoon (n.) The upper, contrary-moving current of the atmosphere over a monsoon.

Antisepsis (n.) Prevention of sepsis by excluding or destroying microorganisms.

Anti-trade (n.) A westerly wind which blows nearly continuously between 30¡ and 50¡ of latitude in both the northern and the southern hemisphere.

Antivenin (n.) The serum of blood rendered antitoxic to a venom by repeated injections of small doses of the venom.

Apartment house () A building comprising a number of suites designed for separate housekeeping tenements, but having conveniences, such as heat, light, elevator service, etc., furnished in common; -- often distinguished in the United States from a flat house.

Apercu (n.) A first view or glance, or the perception or estimation so obtained; an immediate apprehension or insight, appreciative rather than analytic.

Aphotic region () A depth of water so great that only those organisms can exist that do not assimilate.

Aphrasia (n.) A disorder of speech in which words can be uttered but not intelligibly joined together.

Apneumatic (a.) Devoid of air; free from air; as, an apneumatic lung; also, effected by or with exclusion of air; as, an apneumatic operation.

Apocalypse (n.) One of a numerous class of writings proceeding from Jewish authors between 250 b. c. and 150 a. d., and designed to propagate the Jewish faith or to cheer the hearts of the Jewish people with the promise of deliverance and glory; or proceeding from Christian authors of the opening centuries and designed to portray the future.

Apochromatic (a.) Free from chromatic and spherical aberration; -- said esp. of a lens in which rays of three or more colors are brought to the same focus, the degree of achromatism thus obtained being more complete than where two rays only are thus focused, as in the ordinary achromatic objective.

Apocodeine (n.) An alkaloid, /, prepared from codeine. In its effects it resembles apomorphine.

Aposematic (a.) Having or designating conspicuous or warning colors or structures indicative of special means of defense against enemies, as in the skunk.

Apostolic delegate () The diplomatic agent of the pope highest in grade, superior to a nuncio.

Appel (n.) A tap or stamp of the foot as a warning of intent to attack; -- called also attack.

Apposable (a.) Capable of being apposed, or applied one to another, as the thumb to the fingers of the hand.

Approach (n.) A stroke whose object is to land the ball on the putting green. It is made with an iron club.

Appui (n.) The mutual bearing or support of the hand of the rider and the mouth of the horse through the bit and bridle.

Araba (n.) A wagon or cart, usually heavy and without springs, and often covered.

Araroba (n.) A fabaceous tree of Brazil (Centrolobium robustum) having handsomely striped wood; -- called also zebrawood.

Arc (v. i.) To form a voltaic arc, as an electrical current in a broken or disconnected circuit.

Archibald wheel () A metal-hubbed wheel of great strength and elasticity, esp. adapted for artillery carriages and motor cars.

Archoplasm (n.) The substance from which attraction spheres develop in mitotic cell division, and of which they consist.

Ardois system () A widely used system of electric night signals in which a series of double electric lamps (white and red) is arranged vertically on a mast, and operated from a keyboard below.

-lin () An oily liquid substance, C8H13O2N, the chief alkaloid of the betel nut, to which the latter owes its anthelmintic action.

Arete (n.) An acute and rugged crest of a mountain range or a subsidiary ridge between two mountain gorges.

Argentalium (n.) A (patented) alloy of aluminium and silver, with a density of about 2.9.

-min () A solution of silver phosphate in an aqueous solution of ethylene diamine, used as an antiseptic astringent and as a disinfectant.

Argon (n.) A colorless, odorless gas occurring in the air (of which it constitutes 0.93 per cent by volume), in volcanic gases, etc.; -- so named on account of its inertness by Rayleigh and Ramsay, who prepared and examined it in 1894-95. Symbol, A; at. wt., 39.9. Argon is condensible to a colorless liquid boiling at -186.1¡ C. and to a solid melting at -189.6¡ C. It has a characteristic spectrum. No compounds of it are known, but there is physical evidence that its molecule is monatomic. Weight of one liter at 0¡ C. and 760 mm., 1.7828 g.

Argonaut (n.) One of those who went to California in search of gold shortly after it was discovered there in 1848.

Ariel (n.) In the Cabala, a water spirit; in later folklore, a light and graceful spirit of the air.

Arillode (n.) A false aril; an aril originating from the micropyle instead of from the funicle or chalaza of the ovule. The mace of the nutmeg is an arillode.

Aristotype (n.) Orig., a printing-out process using paper coated with silver chloride in gelatin; now, any such process using silver salts in either collodion or gelatin; also, a print so made.

Arkose (n.) A sandstone derived from the disintegration of granite or gneiss, and characterized by feldspar fragments.

Armature (n.) That part of a dynamo or electric generator or of an electric motor in which a current is induced by a relatively moving magnetic field. The armature usually consists of a series of coils or groups of insulated conductors surrounding a core of iron.

Armored cruiser () A man-of-war carrying a large coal supply, and more or less protected from the enemy's shot by iron or steel armor. There is no distinct and accepted classification distinguishing armored and protected cruisers from each other, except that the first have more or heavier armor than the second.

Army organization () The system by which a country raises, classifies, arranges, and equips its armed land forces. The usual divisions are: (1) A regular or active army, in which soldiers serve continuously with the colors and live in barracks or cantonments when not in the field; (2) the reserves of this army, in which the soldiers, while remaining constantly subject to a call to the colors, live at their homes, being summoned more or less frequently to report for instruction, drill, or maneuvers; and (3) one or more classes of soldiers organized largely for territorial defense, living at home and having only occasional periods of drill and instraction, who are variously called home reserves (as in the table below), second, third, etc., line of defense (the regular army and its reserves ordinarily constituting the first line of defense), territorial forces, or the like. In countries where conscription prevails a soldier is supposed to serve a given number of years. He is usually enrolled first in the regular army, then passes to its reserve, then into the home reserves, to serve until he reaches the age limit. It for any reason he is not enrolled in the regular army, he may begin his service in the army reserves or even the home reserves, but then serves the full number of years or up to the age limit. In equipment the organization of the army is into the three great arms of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, together with more or less numerous other branches, such as engineers, medical corps, etc., besides the staff organizations such as those of the pay and subsistence departments.

Arnaout (n.) An inhabitant of Albania and neighboring mountainous regions, specif. one serving as a soldier in the Turkish army.

Arrha (n.) Money or other valuable thing given to evidence a contract; a pledge or earnest.

Arteriosclerosis (n.) Abnormal thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, esp. of the intima, occurring mostly in old age.

Arthrospore (n.) A bacterial resting cell, -- formerly considered a spore, but now known to occur even in endosporous bacteria.

Artifact (n.) A product of human workmanship; -- applied esp. to the simpler products of aboriginal art as distinguished from natural objects.

Artifact (n.) A structure or appearance in protoplasm due to death or the use of reagents and not present during life.

Artillery wheel () A kind of heavily built dished wheel with a long axle box, used on gun carriages, usually having 14 spokes and 7 felloes; hence, a wheel of similar construction for use on automobiles, etc.

Ascariasis (n.) A disease, usually accompanied by colicky pains and diarrhea, caused by the presence of ascarids in the gastrointestinal canal.

Ascocarp (n.) In ascomycetous fungi, the spherical, discoid, or cup-shaped body within which the asci are collected, and which constitutes the mature fructification. The different forms are known in mycology under distinct names. Called also spore fruit.

Ascomycetes (n. pl.) A large class of higher fungi distinguished by septate hyphae, and by having their spores formed in asci, or spore sacs. It comprises many orders, among which are the yeasts, molds, mildews, truffles, morels, etc.

Asemia (n.) Loss of power to express, or to understand, symbols or signs of thought.

Asepsis (n.) State of being aseptic; the methods or processes of asepticizing.

Asexualization (n.) The act or process of sterilizing an animal or human being, as by vasectomy.

Aspect (n.) A view of a plane from a given direction, usually from above; more exactly, the manner of presentation of a plane to a fluid through which it is moving or to a current. If an immersed plane meets a current of fluid long side foremost, or in broadside aspect, it sustains more pressure than when placed short side foremost. Hence, long narrow wings are more effective than short broad ones of the same area.

Aspect ratio () The ratio of the long to the short side of an aeroplane, aerocurve, or wing.

Aspirin (n.) A white crystalline compound of acetyl and salicylic acid used as a drug for the salicylic acid liberated from it in the intestines.

Assay pound () A small standard weight used in assaying bullion, etc., sometimes equaling 0.5 gram, but varying with the assayer.

Assay ton () A weight of 29.166 + grams used in assaying, for convenience. Since it bears the same relation to the milligram that a ton of 2000 avoirdupois pounds does to the troy ounce, the weight in milligrams of precious metal obtained from an assay ton of ore gives directly the number of ounces to the ton.

Assemble (v. t.) To collect and put together the parts of; as, to assemble a bicycle, watch, gun, or other manufactured article.

ASsign (v. i.) To transfer or pass over property to another, whether for the benefit of the assignee or of the assignor's creditors, or in furtherance of some trust.

Astatki (n.) A thick liquid residuum obtained in the distillation of Russian petroleum, much used as fuel.

Aster (n.) A star-shaped figure of achromatic substance found chiefly in cells dividing by mitosis.

Asterope (n.) A double star in the Pleiades (21 k and 22 l Pleiadum, of the 5.8 and 6.4 magnitude respectively), appearing as a single star of the 5.3 magnitude to the naked eye.

Asthma paper () Paper impregnated with saltpeter. The fumes from the burning paper are often inhaled as an alleviative by asthmatics.

Astral (a.) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Astrophotometry (n.) The determination of the brightness of stars, and also of the sun, moon, and planets.

Astrophysics (n.) The science treating of the physical characteristics of the stars and other heavenly bodies, their chemical constitution, light, heat, atmospheres, etc.

Asynchronous (a.) Not simultaneous; not concurrent in time; -- opposed to synchronous.

Sauce aux hatelets () A sauce (such as egg and bread crumbs) used for covering bits of meat, small birds, or fish, strung on skewers for frying.

Athetize (v. t.) To set aside or reject as spurious, as by marking with an obelus.

Athrepsia (n.) Profound debility of children due to lack of food and to unhygienic surroundings.

Atlas powder () A blasting powder or dynamite composed of nitroglycerin, wood fiber, sodium nitrate, and magnesium carbonate.

Atman (n.) The universal ego from whom all individual atmans arise. This sense is a European excrescence on the East Indian thought.

Atrium (n.) A cavity, entrance, or passage; as, the atrium, or atrial cavity, in the body wall of the amphioxus; an atrium of the infundibula of the lungs, etc.

Attraction sphere () The central mass of the aster in mitotic cell division; centrosphere.

Attraction sphere () the mass of archoplasm left by the aster in the resting cell.

Attraction sphere () A small body situated on or near the nucleus in the cells of some of the lower plants, consisting of two centrospheres containing centrosomes. It exercises an important function in mitosis.

Auction bridge () A variety of the game of bridge in which the players, beginning with the dealer, bid for the privilege of naming the trump and playing with the dummy for that deal, there being heavy penalties for a player's failure to make good his bid. The score value of each trick more than six taken by the successful bidder is as follows: when the trump is spades, 2; clubs, 6; diamonds, 7; hearts, 8; royal spades (lilies), 9; and when the deal is played with no trump, 10.

Auction pitch () A game of cards in which the players bid for the privilege of determining or "pitching" the trump suit.

Audile (n.) One whose thoughts take the form of mental sounds or of internal discourse rather than of visual or motor images.

Aufklarung (n.) A philosophic movement of the 18th century characterized by a lively questioning of authority, keen interest in matters of politics and general culture, and an emphasis on empirical method in science. It received its impetus from the unsystematic but vigorous skepticism of Pierre Bayle, the physical doctrines of Newton, and the epistemological theories of Locke, in the preceding century. Its chief center was in France, where it gave rise to the skepticism of Voltaire , the naturalism of Rousseau, the sensationalism of Condillac, and the publication of the "Encyclopedia" by D'Alembert and Diderot. In Germany, Lessing, Mendelssohn, and Herder were representative thinkers, while the political doctrines of the leaders of the American Revolution and the speculations of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine represented the movement in America.

Au gratin () With a crust made by browning in the oven; as, spaghetti may be served au gratin.

Auld light () A member of the conservative party in the Church of Scotland in the latter part of the 18th century.

Aurilave (n.) An instrument for cleansing the ear, consisting of a small piece of sponge on an ivory or bone handle.

Austral (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a zone extending across North America between the Transition and Tropical zones, and including most of the United States and central Mexico except the mountainous parts.

Australian ballot () A system of balloting or voting in public elections, originally used in South Australia, in which there is such an arrangement for polling votes that secrecy is compulsorily maintained, and the ballot used is an official ballot printed and distributed by the government.

Auto- () An abbrev. of automobile, used as a prefix with the meaning of self-moving, self-propelling; as, an autocar, an autocarriage, an autotruck, etc., an automobile car, carriage, truck, etc.

Autocatalysis (n.) Self-catalysis; catalysis of a substance by one of its own products, as of silver oxide by the silver formed by reduction of a small portion of it.

Autoclastic (a.) Broken in place; -- said of rocks having a broken or brecciated structure due to crushing, in contrast to those of brecciated materials brought from a distance.

Autoecious (a.) Passing through all its stages on one host, as certain parasitic fungi; -- contrasted with heteroecious.

Autogenetic (a.) Pertaining to, controlled by, or designating, a system of self-determined drainage.

Autogenetic drainage () A system of natural drainage developed by the constituent streams through headwater erosion.

Autogenetic topography () A system of land forms produced by the free action of rain and streams on rocks of uniform texture.

Autoharp (n.) A zitherlike musical instrument, provided with dampers which, when depressed, deaden some strings, leaving free others that form a chord.

Autohypnotism (n.) Hypnotism of one's self by concentration of the attention on some object or idea.

Auto-infection (n.) Poisoning caused by a virus that originates and develops in the organism itself.

Auto-intoxication (n.) Poisoning, or the state of being poisoned, from toxic substances produced within the body; autotoxaemia.

Autokinesis (n.) Spontaneous or voluntary movement; movement due to an internal cause.

Autokinetic system () In fire-alarm telegraphy, a system so arranged that when one alarm is being transmitted, no other alarm, sent in from another point, will be transmitted until after the first alarm has been disposed of.

Automixte system () A system (devised by Henri Pieper, a Belgian) of driving automobiles employing a gasoline engine and an auxiliary reversible dynamo. When there is an excess of power the dynamo is driven by the engine so as to charge a small storage battery; when there is a deficiency of power the dynamo reverses and acts as an auxiliary motor. Sometimes called Pieper system.

Automobile (n.) An automobile vehicle or mechanism; esp., a self-propelled vehicle suitable for use on a street or roadway. Automobiles are usually propelled by internal combustion engines (using volatile inflammable liquids, as gasoline or petrol, alcohol, naphtha, etc.), steam engines, or electric motors. The power of the driving motor varies from about 4 to 50 H. P. for ordinary vehicles, ranging from the run-about to the touring car, up to as high as 200 H. P. for specially built racing cars. Automobiles are also commonly, and generally in British usage, called motor cars.

Automobilism (n.) The use of automobiles, or the practices, methods, or the like, of those who use them.

Autopathic (a.) Dependent upon, or due or relating to, the structure and characteristics of the diseased organism; endopathic; as, an autopathic disease; an autopathic theory of diseases.

Autophagy (n.) The feeding of the body upon itself, as in fasting; nutrition by consumption of one's own tissues.

Autopneumatic (a.) Acting or moving automatically by means of compressed air.

Autostability (n.) Automatic stability; also, inherent stability. An aeroplane is inherently stable if it keeps in steady poise by virtue of its shape and proportions alone; it is automatically stable if it keeps in steady poise by means of self-operative mechanism.

Autosuggestion (n.) Self-suggestion as distinguished from suggestion coming from another, esp. in hypnotism. Autosuggestion is characteristic of certain mental conditions in which expectant belief tends to produce disturbance of function of one or more organs.

Autotransformer (n.) A transformer in which part of the primary winding is used as a secondary winding, or vice versa; -- called also a compensator or balancing coil.

Autotrophic (a.) Capable of self-nourishment; -- said of all plants in which photosynthetic activity takes place, as opposed to parasitism or saprophytism.

Autotropism (n.) The tendency of plant organs to grow in a straight line when uninfluenced by external stimuli.

Autunite (n.) A lemon-yellow phosphate of uranium and calcium occurring in tabular crystals with basal cleavage, and in micalike scales. H., 2-2.5. Sp. gr., 3.05-3.19.

Auxetophone (n.) A pneumatic reproducer for a phonograph, controlled by the recording stylus on the principle of the relay. It produces much clearer and louder tones than does the ordinary vibrating disk reproducer.

Auxometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the magnifying power of a lens or system of lenses.

Avenalin (n.) A crystalline globulin, contained in oat kernels, very similar in composition to excelsin, but different in reactions and crystalline form.

Averruncator (n.) An instrument for pruning trees, having two blades, or a blade and a hook, fixed on a long rod and operated by a string or wire.

Aviate (v. i.) To fly, or navigate the air, in an aeroplane or heavier-than-air flying machine.

Aviator (n.) The driver or pilot of an aeroplane, or heavier-than-air flying machine.

Aviette (n.) A heavier-than-air flying machine in which the motive power is furnished solely by the aviator.

Axminster carpet () A variety of Turkey carpet, woven by machine or, when more than 27 inches wide, on a hand loom, and consisting of strips of worsted chenille so colored as to produce a pattern on a stout jute backing. It has a fine soft pile. So called from Axminster, England, where it was formerly (1755 -- 1835) made.

Axminster carpet () A similar but cheaper machine-made carpet, resembling moquette in construction and appearance, but finer and of better material.

Azogue (n.) Silver ores suitable for treatment by amalgamation with mercury.

Azole (n.) Any of a large class of compounds characterized by a five-membered ring which contains an atom of nitrogen and at least one other noncarbon atom (nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur). The prefixes furo-, thio, and pyrro- are used to distinguish three subclasses of azoles, which may be regarded as derived respectively from furfuran, thiophene, and pyrrol by replacement of the CH group by nitrogen; as, furo-monazole. Names exactly analogous to those for the azines are also used; as, oxazole, diazole, etc.

-tin () An explosive consisting of sodium nitrate, charcoal, sulphur, and petroleum.

Bab (n.) Lit., gate; -- a title given to the founder of Babism, and taken from that of Bab-ud-Din, assumed by him.

Babiism (n.) The doctrine of a modern religious pantheistical sect in Persia, which was founded, about 1844, by Mirza Ali Mohammed ibn Rabhik (1820 -- 1850), who assumed the title of Bab-ed-Din (Per., Gate of the Faith). Babism is a mixture of Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish, and Parsi elements. This doctrine forbids concubinage and polygamy, and frees women from many of the degradations imposed upon them among the orthodox Mohammedans. Mendicancy, the use of intoxicating liquors and drugs, and slave dealing, are forbidden; asceticism is discountenanced.

Babool (n.) Any one of several species of Acacia, esp. A. Arabica, which yelds a gum used as a substitute for true gum arabic.

Bacillar (a.) Pertaining to, or produced by, the organism bacillus; bacillary.

Bacillary (a.) Of or pertaining to bacilli; produced by, or containing, bacilli; bacillar; as, a bacillary disease.

Back fire () A fire started ahead of a forest or prairie fire to burn only against the wind, so that when the two fires meet both must go out for lack of fuel.

Back fire () A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in a direction reverse to that in which it should travel; also, an explosion in the exhaust passages of such ah engine.

Back-fire (v. i.) To have or experience a back fire or back fires; -- said of an internal-combustion engine.

Back-fire (v. i.) Of a Bunsen or similar air-fed burner, to light so that the flame proceeds from the internal gas jet instead of from the external jet of mixed gas and air.

Backheel (n.) A method of tripping by getting the leg back of the opponent's heel on the outside and pulling forward while pushing his body back; a throw made in this way.

Backstop (n.) In baseball, a fence, prop. at least 90 feet behind the home base, to stop the balls that pass the catcher; also, the catcher himself.

Backstop (n.) In rounders, the player who stands immediately behind the striking base.

Baconian (n.) One who maintains that Lord Bacon is the author of the works commonly attributed to Shakespeare.

Bacteriolysis (n.) Chemical decomposition brought about by bacteria without the addition of oxygen.

Badaud (n.) A person given to idle observation of everything, with wonder or astonishment; a credulous or gossipy idler.

Badger game () The method of blackmailing by decoying a person into a compromising situation and extorting money by threats of exposure.

Badigeon (n.) A cement or distemper paste (as of plaster and powdered freestone, or of sawdust and glue or lime) used by sculptors, builders, and workers in wood or stone, to fill holes, cover defects, etc.

Baetulus (n.) A meteorite, or similar rude stone artificially shaped, held sacred or worshiped as of divine origin.

Baff (n.) a stroke in which the sole of the club hits the ground and drives the ball aloft.

Baffle (n.) A deflector, as a plate or wall, so arranged across a furnace or boiler flue as to mingle the hot gases and deflect them against the substance to be heated.

Baffle (n.) A grating or plate across a channel or pipe conveying water, gas, or the like, by which the flow is rendered more uniform in different parts of the cross section of the stream; -- used in measuring the rate of flow, as by means of a weir.

Baffy (v. t.) A short wooden club having a deeply concave face, seldom used.

Bahaudur (n.) A title of respect or honor given to European officers in East Indian state papers, and colloquially, and among the natives, to distinguished officials and other important personages.

Bahai (n.) A member of the sect of the Babis consisting of the adherents of Baha (Mirza Husain Ali, entitled "Baha 'u 'llah," or, "the Splendor of God"), the elder half brother of Mirza Yahya of Nur, who succeeded the Bab as the head of the Babists. Baha in 1863 declared himself the supreme prophet of the sect, and became its recognized head. There are upwards of 20,000 Bahais in the United States.

Baily's beads () A row of bright spots observed in connection with total eclipses of the sun. Just before and after a total eclipse, the slender, unobscured crescent of the sun's disk appears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads. The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 -- 1844) is thought to be an effect of irradiation, and of inequalities of the moon's edge.

Bairam (n.) Either of two Mohammedan festivals, of which one (the Lesser Bairam) is held at the close of the fast called Ramadan, and the other (the Greater Bairam) seventy days after the fast.

Balata (n.) The bully tree (Minusops globosa); also, its milky juice (balata gum), which when dried constitutes an elastic gum called chicle, or chicle gum.

Balayeuse (n.) A protecting ruffle or frill, as of silk or lace, sewed close to the lower edge of a skirt on the inside.

Ball (n.) A pitched ball, not struck at by the batsman, which fails to pass over the home base at a height not greater than the batsman's shoulder nor less than his knee.

Ballistite (n.) A smokeless powder containing equal parts of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin.

Ballotage (n.) In France, a second ballot taken after an indecisive first ballot to decide between two or several candidates.

Bambino (n.) A child or baby; specif., a representation in art of the infant Christ.

Banana solution () A solution used as a vehicle in applying bronze pigments. In addition to acetote, benzine, and a little pyroxylin, it contains amyl acetate, which gives it the odor of bananas.

Bancal (n.) An ornamental covering, as of carpet or leather, for a bench or form.

Bandeau (n.) A narrow band or fillet, as for the hair, part of a headdress, etc.

Banderilla (n.) A barbed dart carrying a banderole which the banderillero thrusts into the neck or shoulder of the bull in a bullfight.

Banjorine (n.) A kind of banjo, with a short neck, tuned a fourth higher than the common banjo; -- popularly so called.

Bank (n.) A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc.

Bank (n.) The lateral inclination of an aeroplane as it rounds a curve; as, a bank of 45¡ is easy; a bank of 90¡ is dangerous.

Bank (v. i.) To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; -- said of a flying machine, an aerocurve, or the like.

Bank discount () A sum equal to the interest at a given rate on the principal (face) of a bill or note from the time of discounting until it becomes due.

Banquette (n.) A bench or seat for passengers on the top of a diligence or other public vehicle.

Banshie (n.) A supernatural being supposed to warn a family of the approaching death of one of its members, by wailing or singing in a mournful voice.

Bantu (n.) A member of one of the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs, Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or Aba-ntu, itself a combination of this prefix with the syllable -ntu, a person.

Banzai (interj.) Lit., May you live ten thousand years; -- used in salutation of the emperor and as a battle cry.

Baraca (n.) An international, interdenominational organization of Bible classes of young men; -- so named in allusion to the Hebrew word Berachah (Meaning blessing) occurring in 2 Chron. xx. 26 and 1 Chron. xii.

Barad (n.) The pressure of one dyne per square centimeter; -- used as a unit of pressure.

Baresthesiometer (n.) An instrument for determining the delicacy of the sense of pressure.

Barathea (n.) A soft fabric with a kind of basket weave and a diapered pattern.

Barber (n.) A storm accompanied by driving ice spicules formed from sea water, esp. one occurring on the Gulf of St. Lawrence; -- so named from the cutting ice spicules.

school () A French school of the middle of the 19th century centering in the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainebleau. Its members went straight to nature in disregard of academic tradition, treating their subjects faithfully and with poetic feeling for color, light, and atmosphere. It is exemplified, esp. in landscapes, by Corot, Rousseau, Daubigny, Jules Dupre, and Diaz. Associated with them are certain painters of animals, as Troyon and Jaque, and of peasant life, as Millet and Jules Breton.

Bardiglio (n.) An Italian marble of which the principal varieties occur in the neighborhood of Carrara and in Corsica. It commonly shows a dark gray or bluish ground traversed by veins.

Barnburner (n.) A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; -- opposed to Hunker.

Barnstormer (n.) An itinerant theatrical player who plays in barns when a theatre is lacking; hence, an inferior actor, or one who plays in the country away from the larger cities.

Barocyclonometer (n.) An aneroid barometer for use with accompanying graphic diagrams and printed directions designed to aid mariners to interpret the indications of the barometer so as to determine the existence of a violent storm at a distance of several hundred miles.

Barogram (n.) A tracing, usually made by the barograph, showing graphically the variations of atmospheric pressure for a given time.

Barong (n.) A kind of cutting weapon with a thick back and thin razorlike edge, used by the Moros of the Philippine Islands.

Barothermograph (n.) An instrument for recording both pressure and temperature, as of the atmosphere.

Barracuda (n.) Any of several voracious pikelike marine fishes allied to the gray mullets, constituting the genus Sphyraena and family Sphyraenidae. The great barracuda (S. barracuda) of the West Indies, Florida, etc., is often six feet or more long, and as dangerous as a shark. In Cuba its flesh is reputed to be poisonous. S. Argentea of the Pacific coast and S. sphyraena of Europe are smaller species, and are used as food.

Barramundi (n.) A remarkable Australian fresh-water ganoid fish of the genus Ceratodus.

Barrel process () A process of extracting gold or silver by treating the ore in a revolving barrel, or drum, with mercury, chlorine, cyanide solution, or other reagent.

Barretter (n.) A thermal cymoscope which operates by increased resistance when subjected to the influence of electric waves. The original form consisted of an extremely fine platinum wire loop attached to terminals and inclosed in a small glass or silver bulb. In a later variety, called the liquid barretter, wire is replace by a column of liquid in a very fine capillary tube.

Barrio (n.) In Spain and countries colonized by Spain, a village, ward, or district outside a town or city to whose jurisdiction it belongs.

Barysphere (n.) The heavy interior portion of the earth, within the lithosphere.

Basic process () A Bessemer or open-hearth steel-making process in which a lining that is basic, or not siliceous, is used, and additions of basic material are made to the molten charge during treatment. Opposed to acid process, above. Called also Thomas process.

Basic slag () A by-product from the manufacture of steel by the basic process, used as a fertilizer. It is rich in lime and contains 14 to 20 per cent of phosphoric acid. Called also Thomas slag, phosphatic slag, and odorless phosphate.

Basidiomycetes (n. pl.) A large subdivision of fungi coordinate with the Ascomycetes, characterized by having the spores borne on a basidium. It embraces those fungi best known to the public, such as mushrooms, toadstools, etc.

Basket ball () A game, usually played indoors, in which two parties of players contest with each other to toss a large inflated ball into opposite goals resembling baskets.

Basutos (n. pl.) A warlike South African people of the Bantu stock, divided into many tribes, subject to the English. They formerly practiced cannibalism, but have now adopted many European customs.

Battalion (n.) An infantry command of two or more companies, which is the tactical unit of the infantry, or the smallest command which is self-supporting upon the battlefield, and also the unit in which the strength of the infantry of an army is expressed.

Battle range () The range within which the fire of small arms is very destructive. With the magazine rifle, this is six hundred yards.

Battle ship () An armor-plated man-of-war built of steel and heavily armed, generally having from ten thousand to fifteen thousand tons displacement, and intended to be fit to meet the heaviest ships in line of battle.

Baume (a.) Designating or conforming to either of the scales used by the French chemist Antoine Baume in the graduation of his hydrometers; of or relating to Baume's scales or hydrometers. There are two Baume hydrometers. One, which is used with liquids heavier than water, sinks to 0¡ in pure water, and to 15¡ in a 15 per cent salt solution; the other, for liquids lighter than water, sinks to 0¡ in a 10 per cent salt solution and to 10¡ in pure water. In both cases the graduation, based on the distance between these fundamental points, is continued along the stem as far as desired.

Bayamo (n.) A violent thunder squall occurring on the south coast of Cuba, esp. near Bayamo. The gusts, called bayamo winds, are modified foehn winds.

Bayeux tapestry () A piece of linen about 1 ft. 8 in. wide by 213 ft. long, covered with embroidery representing the incidents of William the Conqueror's expedition to England, preserved in the town museum of Bayeux in Normandy. It is probably of the 11th century, and is attributed by tradition to Matilda, the Conqueror's wife.

Bayman (n.) In the United States navy, a sick-bay nurse; -- now officially designated as hospital apprentice.

Bay State () Massachusetts, which had been called the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; -- a nickname.

Beach comber () A vagrant seaman, usually of low character, who loiters about seaports, particularly on the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Bearing ring () In a balloon, the braced wooden ring attached to the suspension ropes at the bottom, functionally analogous to the keel of a ship.

Bear State () Arkansas; -- a nickname, from the many bears once inhabiting its forests.

Bear-trap dam () A kind of movable dam, in one form consisting of two leaves resting against each other at the top when raised and folding down one over the other when lowered, for deepening shallow parts in a river.

Beat (n.) One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him.

Beat (n.) The act of obtaining and publishing a piece of news by a newspaper before its competitors; also, the news itself; a scoop.

Beat (n.) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.

Beaufort's scale () A scale of wind force devised by Sir F. Beaufort, R. N., in 1805, in which the force is indicated by numbers from 0 to 12.

Beaumontague (n.) A cement used in making joints, filling cracks, etc. For iron, the principal constituents are iron borings and sal ammoniac; for wood, white lead or litharge, whiting, and linseed oil.

Bebeeru (n.) A tropical South American tree (Nectandra Rodioei), the bark of which yields the alkaloid bebeerine, and the wood of which is known as green heart.

Bebung (n.) A tremolo effect, such as that produced on the piano by vibratory repetition of a note with sustained use of the pedal.

Becchi's test () A qualitative test for cottonseed oil, based on the fact this oil imparts a maroon color to an alcoholic solution of silver nitrate.

Bechuanas (n. pl.) A division of the Bantus, dwelling between the Orange and Zambezi rivers, supposed to be the most ancient Bantu population of South Africa. They are divided into totemic clans; they are intelligent and progressive.

Beck's scale () A hydrometer scale on which the zero point corresponds to sp. gr. 1.00, and the 30¡-point to sp. gr. 0.85. From these points the scale is extended both ways, all the degrees being of equal length.

Becquerel rays () Radiations first observed by the French physicist Henri Becquerel, in working with uranium and its compounds. They consist of a mixture of alpha, beta, and gamma rays.

Becuiba nut () The nut of the Brazilian tree Myristica Bicuhyba, which yields a medicinal balsam used for rheumatism.

Begohm (n.) A unit of resistance equal to one billion ohms, or one thousand megohms.

Bejuco (n.) Any climbing woody vine of the tropics with the habit of a liane; in the Philippines, esp. any of various species of Calamus, the cane or rattan palm.

Bel (n.) A thorny rutaceous tree (Aegle marmelos) of India, and its aromatic, orange-like fruit; -- called also Bengal quince, golden apple, wood apple. The fruit is used medicinally, and the rind yields a perfume and a yellow dye.

Belgian block () A nearly cubical block of some tough stone, esp. granite, used as a material for street pavements. Its usual diameter is 5 to 7 inches.

Bellarmine (n.) A stoneware jug of a pattern originated in the neighborhood of Cologne, Germany, in the 16th century. It has a bearded face or mask supposed to represent Cardinal Bellarmine, a leader in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation, following the Reformation; -- called also graybeard, longbeard.

Belleek ware () A porcelainlike kind of decorative pottery with a high gloss, which is sometimes iridescent. A very fine kind is made at Belleek in Ireland.

Bell process () The process of washing molten pig iron by adding iron oxide, proposed by I. Lowthian Bell of England about 1875.

Bell's palsy () Paralysis of the facial nerve, producing distortion of one side of the face.

Bench mark () Any permanent mark to which other levels may be referred. Specif. : A horizontal mark at the water's edge with reference to which the height of tides and floods may be measured.

Benefit society () A society or association formed for mutual insurance, as among tradesmen or in labor unions, to provide for relief in sickness, old age, and for the expenses of burial. Usually called friendly society in Great Britain.

Benthos (n.) The bottom of the sea, esp. of the deep oceans; hence (Bot. & Zool.), the fauna and flora of the sea bottom; -- opposed to plankton.

Benzonaphtol () A white crystalline powder used as an intestinal antiseptic; beta-naphthol benzoate.

Benzosol (n.) Guaiacol benzoate, used as an intestinal antiseptic and as a substitute for creosote in phthisis. It is a colorless crystalline pewder.

Berceuse (n.) A vocal or instrumental composition of a soft tranquil character, having a lulling effect; a cradle song.

Bergschrund (n.) The crevasse or series of crevasses, usually deep and often broad, frequently occurring near the head of a mountain glacier, about where the neve field joins the valley portion of the glacier.

Bergstock (n.) A long pole with a spike at the end, used in climbing mountains; an alpenstock.

Bering Sea Controversy () A controversy (1886 -- 93) between Great Britain and the United States as to the right of Canadians not licensed by the United States to carry on seal fishing in the Bering Sea, over which the United States claimed jurisdiction as a mare clausum. A court of arbitration, meeting in Paris in 1893, decided against the claim of the United States, but established regulations for the preservation of the fur seal.

Bermuda lily () The large white lily (Lilium longiflorum eximium, syn. L. Harrisii) which is extensively cultivated in Bermuda.

Berseem (n.) An Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) extensively cultivated as a forage plant and soil-renewing crop in the alkaline soils of the Nile valley, and now introduced into the southwestern United States. It is more succulent than other clovers or than alfalfa. Called also Egyptian clover.

Bertillon system () A system for the identification of persons by a physical description based upon anthropometric measurements, notes of markings, deformities, color, impression of thumb lines, etc.

Bestiary (n.) A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages.

Beta (n.) The second letter of the Greek alphabet, B, /. See B, and cf. etymology of Alphabet.

Betacismus (n.) Excessive or extended use of the b sound in speech, due to conversion of other sounds into it, as through inability to distinguish them from b, or because of difficulty in pronouncing them.

Beta rays () Penetrating rays readily deflected by a magnetic or electric field, emitted by radioactive substances, as radium. They consist of negatively charged particles or electrons, apparently the same in kind as those of the cathode rays, but having much higher velocities (about 35,000 to 180,000 miles per second).

Bickford match () A fuse used in blasting, consisting of a long cylinder of explosive material inclosed in a varnished wrapping of rope or hose. It burns from 2 to 4 feet a minute.

Biela's comet () A periodic coment, discovered by Biela in 1826, which revolves around the sun in 6.6 years. The November meteors (Andromedes or Bielids) move in its orbit, and may be fragments of the comet.

Billabong (n.) In Australia, a blind channel leading out from a river; -- sometimes called an anabranch. This is the sense of the word as used in the Public Works Department; but the term has also been locally applied to mere back-waters forming stagnant pools and to certain water channels arising from a source.

Billet (n.) Quarters or place to which one is assigned, as by a billet or ticket; berth; position. Also used fig.

Bimetallic (a.) Composed of two different metals; formed of two parts, each of a different metal; as, bimetallic wire; bimetallic thermometer, etc.

Bimolecular (a.) Pertaining to, or formed from, two molecules; as, a bimolecular reaction (a reaction between two molecules).

Binding post () A metallic post attached to electrical apparatus for convenience in making connections.

Binding screw () A set screw used to bind parts together, esp. one for making a connection in an electrical circuit.

Biodynamical (a.) Of or pertaining to biodynamics, or the doctrine of vital forces or energy.

Biodynamics (n.) The branch of biology which treats of the active vital phenomena of organisms; -- opposed to biostatics.

Biogeography (n.) The branch of biology which deals with the geographical distribution of animals and plants. It includes both zoogeography and phytogeography.

Biograph (n.) An animated picture machine for screen projection; a cinematograph.

Biophotophone (n.) An instrument combining a cinematograph and a phonograph so that the moving figures on the screen are accompanied by the appropriate sounds.

Biopsychical (a.) Pertaining to psychical phenomena in their relation to the living organism or to the general phenomena of life.

Bioscope (n.) An animated picture machine for screen projection; a cinematograph (which see).

Biplane (n.) An aeroplane with two main supporting surfaces one above the other.

Biplane (a.) Having, or consisting of, two superposed planes, aerocurves, or the like; of or pertaining to a biplane; as, a biplane rudder.

Biprism (n.) A combination of two short rectangular glass prisms cemented together at their diagonal faces so as to form a cube; -- called also optical cube. It is used in one form of photometer.

Bissell truck () A truck for railroad rolling stock, consisting of two ordinary axle boxes sliding in guides attached to a triangular frame; -- called also pony truck.

Bito tree () A small scrubby tree (Balanites Aegyptiaca) growing in dry regions of tropical Africa and Asia.

Bitumen process () Any process in which advantage is taken of the fact that prepared bitumen is rendered insoluble by exposure to light, as in photolithography.

Blackbird (n.) A native of any of the islands near Queensland; -- called also Kanaka.

Blackbirding (n.) The kidnaping of negroes or Polynesians to be sold as slaves.

Blackbirding (n.) The act or practice of collecting natives of the islands near Queensland for service on the Queensland sugar plantations.

Black Flags () An organization composed originally of Chinese rebels that had been driven into Tonkin by the suppression of the Taiping rebellion, but later increased by bands of pirates and adventurers. It took a prominent part in fighting the French during their hostilities with Anam, 1873-85.

Black Friday () Any Friday on which a public disaster has occurred, as: In England, December 6, 1745, when the news of the landing of the Pretender reached London, or May 11, 1866, when a financial panic commenced. In the United States, September 24, 1869, and September 18, 1873, on which financial panics began.

Black Hamburg () A sweet and juicy variety of European grape, of a dark purplish black color, much grown under glass in northern latitudes.

Black Hand () A Spanish anarchistic society, many of the members of which were imprisoned in 1883.

Black Hand () A lawless or blackmailing secret society, esp. among Italians.

Black Spanish () One of an old and well-known Mediterranean breed of domestic fowls with glossy black plumage, blue legs and feet, bright red comb and wattles, and white face. They are remarkable as egg layers.

Blackwater State () Nebraska; -- a nickname alluding to the dark color of the water of its rivers, due to the presence of a black vegetable mold in the soil.

Blade (n.) The flat part of the tongue immediately behind the tip, or point.

Blanc (n.) A white sauce of fat, broth, and vegetables, used esp. for braised meat.

Blanchard lathe () A kind of wood-turning lathe for making noncircular and irregular forms, as felloes, gun stocks, lasts, spokes, etc., after a given pattern. The pattern and work rotate on parallel spindles in the same direction with the same speed, and the work is shaped by a rapidly rotating cutter whose position is varied by the pattern acting as a cam upon a follower wheel traversing slowly along the pattern.

Blanket clause () A clause, as in a blanket mortgage or policy, that includes a group or class of things, rather than a number mentioned individually and having the burden, loss, or the like, apportioned among them.

policy () One that covers a group or class of things or properties instead of one or more things mentioned individually, as where a mortgage secures various debts as a group, or subjects a group or class of different pieces of property to one general lien.

Blanket stitch () A buttonhole stitch worked wide apart on the edge of material, as blankets, too thick to hem.

Blast lamp () A lamp provided with some arrangement for intensifying combustion by means of a blast.

Blazer (n.) A light jacket, usually of wool or silk and of a bright color, for wear at tennis, cricket, or other sport.

Blazer (n.) The dish used when cooking directly over the flame of a chafing-dish lamp, or the coals of a brasier.

Blind reader () A post-office clerk whose duty is to decipher obscure addresses.

Block (n.) In Australia, one of the large lots into which public land, when opened to settlers, is divided by the government surveyors.

Block chain () A chain in which the alternate links are broad blocks connected by thin side links pivoted to the ends of the blocks, used with sprocket wheels to transmit power, as in a bicycle.

Block signal () One of the danger signals or safety signals which guide the movement of trains in a block system. The signal is often so coupled with a switch that act of opening or closing the switch operates the signal also.

Block system () A system by which the track is divided into short sections, as of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the guidance of electric, or combined electric and pneumatic, signals that no train enters a section or block until the preceding train has left it, as in absolute blocking, or that a train may be allowed to follow another into a block as long as it proceeds with excessive caution, as in permissive blocking.

Blolly (n.) A shrub or small tree of southern Florida and the West Indies (Pisonia obtusata) with smooth oval leaves and a hard, 10-ribbed fruit.

Blue-grass State () The Sate of Kentucky; -- a nickname alluding to the blue-grass region, where fine horses are bred.

Blue Hen State () The State of Delaware; -- a popular sobriquet. It is said, though the story lacks proof, to have taken its origin from the insistence of a Delaware Revolutionary captain, named Caldwell, that no cock could be truly game unless the mother was a blue hen, whence Blue Hen's Chickens came to be a nickname for the people of Delaware.

Bluenose (n.) A Nova Scotian; also, a Nova Scotian ship (called also Blue"nos`er (/)); a Nova Scotian potato, etc.

Blue-skylaw () A law enacted to provide for the regulation and supervision of investment companies in order to protect the public against companies that do not intend to do a fair and honest business and that offer investments that do not promise a fair return; -- so called because the promises made by some investment companies are as boundless or alluring as the blue sky, or, perhaps, because designed to clear away the clouds and fogs from the simple investor's horizon.

Bluey (a.) A bushman's bundle; a swag; -- so called because a blanket is sometimes used as the outside covering.

Bodhisattwa (n.) One who has reached the highest degree of saintship, so that in his next incarnation he will be a Buddha, or savior of the world.

Body (n.) The central, longitudinal framework of a flying machine, to which are attached the planes or aerocurves, passenger accommodations, controlling and propelling apparatus, fuel tanks, etc.

Bogey (n.) A given score or number of strokes, for each hole, against which players compete; -- said to be so called because assumed to be the score of an imaginary first-rate player called Colonel Bogey.

Bogie engine () A switching engine the running gear and driving gear of which are on a bogie, or truck.

Boiler (n.) A sunken reef; esp., a coral reef on which the sea breaks heavily.

Bolero (n.) A kind of small outer jacket, with or without sleeves, worn by women.

Bonaci (n.) A large grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) of Florida and the West Indies, valuable as a food fish; -- called also aguaji and, in Florida, black grouper.

Bond (n.) A heavy copper wire or rod connecting adjacent rails of an electric railway track when used as a part of the electric circuit.

Bongo (n.) Either of two large antelopes (Boocercus eurycercus of West Africa, and B. isaaci of East Africa) of a reddish or chestnut-brown color with narrow white stripes on the body. Their flesh is especially esteemed as food.

Bonnaz (n.) A kind of embroidery made with a complicated sewing machine, said to have been originally invented by a Frenchman of the name of Bonnaz. The work is done either in freehand or by following a perforated design.

Bonnet rouge () The red cap adopted by the extremists in the French Revolution, which became a sign of patriotism at that epoch; hence, a revolutionist; a Red Republican.

Booster (n.) An instrument for regulating the electro-motive force in an alternating-current circuit; -- so called because used to "boost", or raise, the pressure in the circuit.

Bordeaux mixture () A fungicidal mixture composed of blue vitriol, lime, and water. The formula in common use is: blue vitriol, 6 lbs.; lime, 4 lbs.; water, 35 -- 50 gallons.

Bordereau (n.) A note or memorandum, esp. one containing an enumeration of documents.

Boreal (a.) Designating or pertaining to a terrestrial division consisting of the northern and mountainous parts of both the Old and the New World; -- equivalent to the Holarctic region exclusive of the Transition, Sonoran, and corresponding areas. The term is used by American authors and applied by them chiefly to the Nearctic subregion. The Boreal region includes approximately all of North and Central America in which the mean temperature of the hottest season does not exceed 18¡ C. (= 64.4¡ F.). Its subdivisions are the Arctic zone and Boreal zone, the latter including the area between the Arctic and Transition zones.

Bostryx (n.) A form of cymose inflorescence with all the flowers on one side of the rachis, usually causing it to curl; -- called also a uniparous helicoid cyme.

Boswellian (a.) Relating to, or characteristic of, Dr. Johnson's biographer, James Boswell, whose hero worship made his narrative a faithful but often uncritical record of details.

Bottom fermentation () A slow alcoholic fermentation during which the yeast cells collect at the bottom of the fermenting liquid. It takes place at a temperature of 4¡ - 10¡ C. (39¡ - 50¡F.). It is used in making lager beer and wines of low alcohol content but fine bouquet.

Boucherize (v. t.) To impregnate with a preservative solution of copper sulphate, as timber, railroad ties, etc.

Bougie decimale () A photometric standard used in France, having the value of one twentieth of the Violle platinum standard, or slightly less than a British standard candle. Called also decimal candle.

Boulangism (n.) The spirit or principles of a French political movement identified with Gen. Georges Boulanger (d. 1891), whose militarism and advocacy of revenge on Germany attracted to him a miscellaneous party of monarchists and Republican malcontents.

Bowdlerize (v. t.) To expurgate, as a book, by omitting or modifying the parts considered offensive.

Bower-Barff process () A certain process for producing upon articles of iron or steel an adherent coating of the magnetic oxide of iron (which is not liable to corrosion by air, moisture, or ordinary acids). This is accomplished by producing, by oxidation at about 1600¡ F. in a closed space, a coating containing more or less of the ferric oxide (Fe2O3) and the subsequent change of this in a reduced atmosphere to the magnetic oxide (Fe2O4).

Boxer (n.) A member of a powerful Chinese organization which committed numerous outrages on Europeans and Christian converts in the uprising against foreigners in 1900. Various names, as "League of United Patriots" and "Great Knife [or Sword] Society," have been given as the Chinese name of the organization; why the members were called Boxers is uncertain.

Boxing day () The first week day after Christmas, a legal holiday on which Christmas boxes are given to postmen, errand boys, employees, etc. The night of this day is boxing night.

Box kite () A kite, invented by Lawrence Hargrave, of Sydney, Australia, which consist of two light rectangular boxes, or cells open on two sides, and fastened together horizontally. Called also Hargrave, / cellular, kite.

Box tail () In a flying machine, a tail or rudder, usually fixed, resembling a box kite.

Boy (n.) In various countries, a male servant, laborer, or slave of a native or inferior race; also, any man of such a race.

Boy scout () Orig., a member of the "Boy Scouts," an organization of boys founded in 1908, by Sir R. S. S. Baden-Powell, to promote good citizenship by creating in them a spirit of civic duty and of usefulness to others, by stimulating their interest in wholesome mental, moral, industrial, and physical activities, etc. Hence, a member of any of the other similar organizations, which are now worldwide. In "The Boy Scouts of America" the local councils are generally under a scout commissioner, under whose supervision are scout masters, each in charge of a troop of two or more patrols of eight scouts each, who are of three classes, tenderfoot, second-class scout, and first-class scout.

Bracket (n.) A figure determined by firing a projectile beyond a target and another short of it, as a basis for ascertaining the proper elevation of the piece; -- only used in the phrase, to establish a bracket. After the bracket is established shots are fired with intermediate elevations until the exact range is obtained. In the United States navy it is called fork.

Braille (n.) A system of printing or writing for the blind in which the characters are represented by tangible points or dots. It was invented by Louis Braille, a French teacher of the blind.

Brandenburg (n.) A kind of decoration for the breast of a coat, sometimes only a frog with a loop, but in some military uniforms enlarged into a broad horizontal stripe.

Brashy (a.) Resembling, or of the nature of, brash, or broken fragments; broken; crumbly.

Brasilin (n.) A substance, C16H14O5, extracted from brazilwood as a yellow crystalline powder which is white when pure. It is colored intensely red by alkalies on exposure to the air, being oxidized to bra*sil"e*in (/), C16H12O5, to which brazilwood owes its dyeing properties.

Brasque (n.) A paste made by mixing powdered charcoal, coal, or coke with clay, molasses, tar, or other suitable substance. It is used for lining hearths, crucibles, etc. Called also steep.

Brassiere (n.) A form of woman's underwaist stiffened with whalebones, or the like, and worn to support the breasts.

Braw (a.) Well-dressed; handsome; smart; brave; -- used of persons or their clothing, etc.; as, a braw lad.

Breakaway (n.) A wild rush of sheep, cattle, horses, or camels (especially at the smell or the sight of water); a stampede.

Breech action () The breech mechanism in breech-loading small arms and certain special guns, as automatic and machine guns; -- used frequently in referring to the method by which the movable barrels of breech-loading shotguns are locked, unlocked, or rotated to loading position.

Brelan favori () In French games, a pair royal composed of 2 cards in the hand and the card turned.

Brickfielder (n.) Orig., at Sydney, a cold and violent south or southwest wind, rising suddenly, and regularly preceded by a hot wind from the north; -- now usually called southerly buster. It blew across the Brickfields, formerly so called, a district of Sydney, and carried clouds of dust into the city.

Bricole (n.) In court tennis, the rebound of a ball from a wall of the court; also, the side stroke or play by which the ball is driven against the wall; hence, fig., indirect action or stroke.

Bricole (n.) A shot in which the cue ball is driven first against the cushion.

Brie cheese () A kind of soft French cream cheese; -- so called from the district in France where it is made; -- called also fromage de Brie.

Brig (n.) On a United States man-of-war, the prison or place of confinement for offenders.

Brilliantine (n.) A dress fabric having a glossy finish on both sides, resembling alpaca but of superior quality.

Briolette (n.) An oval or pearshaped diamond having its entire surface cut in triangular facets.

Briquette (n.) A block of artificial stone in the form of a brick, used for paving; also, a molded sample of solidified cement or mortar for use as a test piece for showing the strength of the material.

spectre () A mountain specter (which see), esp. that observed on the Brocken, in the Harz Mountains.

Bromalin (n.) A colorless or white crystalline compound, (CH2)6N4C2H5Br, used as a sedative in epilepsy.

Bromanil (n.) A substance analogous to chloranil but containing bromine in place of chlorine.

Bromide (n.) A person who is conventional and commonplace in his habits of thought and conversation. [Slang]

Bromid, paper () A sensitized paper coated with gelatin impregnated with bromide of silver, used in contact printing and in enlarging.

Bromidiom (n.) A conventional comment or saying, such as those characteristic of bromides.

Bromogelatin (a.) Designating or pertaining to, a process of preparing dry plates with an emulsion of bromides and silver nitrate in gelatin.

Bromoiodism (n.) Poisoning induced by large doses of bromine and iodine or of their compounds.

Bromol (n.) A crystalline substance (chemically, tribromophenol, C6H2Br3OH), used as an antiseptic and disinfectant.

Brontograph (n.) A tracing or chart showing the phenomena attendant on thunderstorms.

Brontograph (n.) An instrument for making such tracings, as a recording brontometer.

Brontometer (n.) An instrument for noting or recording phenomena attendant on thunderstorms.

Bronze steel () A hard tough alloy of tin, copper, and iron, which can be used for guns.

Brush (n.) In Australia, a dense growth of vegetation in good soil, including shrubs and trees, mostly small.

Buccan (n.) A wooden frame or grid for roasting, smoking, or drying meat over fire.

Buccan (v. t.) To expose (meat) in strips to fire and smoke upon a buccan.

Bucket (v. t.) To draw or lift in, or as if in, buckets; as, to bucket water.

Bucket (v. t.) To make, or cause to make (the recovery), with a certain hurried or unskillful forward swing of the body.

Buck fever () Intense excitement at the sight of deer or other game, such as often unnerves a novice in hunting.

Bulbil (n.) A small or secondary bulb; hence, now almost exclusively: An aerial bulb or deciduous bud, produced in the leaf axils, as in the tiger lily, or relpacing the flowers, as in some onions, and capable, when separated, of propagating the plant; -- called also bulblet and brood bud.

Bulbil (n.) A small hollow bulb, such as an enlargement in a small vessel or tube.

Bull Moose () A follower of Theodore Roosevelt in the presidential campaign of 1912; -- a sense said to have originated from a remark made by Roosevelt on a certain occasion that he felt "like a bull moose."

Bull Moose () The figure of a bull moose used as the party symbol of the Progressive party in the presidential campaign of 1912.

Bull-roarer (n.) A contrivance consisting of a slat of wood tied to the end of a thong or string, with which the slat is whirled so as to cause an intermittent roaring noise. It is used as a toy, and among some races in certain religious rites.

Bundesrath (n.) Lit., a federal council, esp. of the German Empire. See Legislature.

Bunker (n.) Hence, any rough hazardous ground on the links; also, an artificial hazard with built-up faces.

Bunko (v. t.) To swindle by a bunko game or scheme; to cheat or victimize in any similar way, as by a confidence game, passing a bad check, etc.

Bunsen cell () A zinc-carbon cell in which the zinc (amalgamated) is surrounded by dilute sulphuric acid, and the carbon by nitric acid or a chromic acid mixture, the two plates being separated by a porous cup.

Bunt (v. t. & i.) To bat or tap (the ball) slowly within the infield by meeting it with the bat without swinging at it.

Burschenschaft (n.) In Germany, any of various associations of university students formed (the original one at Jena in 1815) to support liberal ideas, or the organization formed by the affiliation of the local bodies. The organization was suppressed by the government in 1819, but was secretly revived, and is now openly maintained as a social organization, the restrictive laws having been repealed prior to 1849.

Bushel (v. t. & i.) To mend or repair, as men's garments; to repair garments.

Bushido (n.) The unwritten code of moral principles regulating the actions of the Japanese knighthood, or Samurai; the chivalry of Japan.

Busk (n.) Among the Creek Indians, a feast of first fruits celebrated when the corn is ripe enough to be eaten. The feast usually continues four days. On the first day the new fire is lighted, by friction of wood, and distributed to the various households, an offering of green corn, including an ear brought from each of the four quarters or directions, is consumed, and medicine is brewed from snakeroot. On the second and third days the men physic with the medicine, the women bathe, the two sexes are taboo to one another, and all fast. On the fourth day there are feasting, dancing, and games.

Butylamine (n.) A colorless liquid base, C4H9NH2, of which there are four isomeric varieties.

Bye (n.) In various sports in which the contestants are drawn in pairs, the position or turn of one left with no opponent in consequence of an odd number being engaged; as, to draw a bye in a round of a tennis tournament.

Bye (n.) The hole or holes of a stipulated course remaining unplayed at the end of a match.

Caatinga (n.) A forest composed of stunted trees and thorny bushes, found in areas of small rainfall in Brazil.

Caballeria (n.) An ancient Spanish land tenure similar to the English knight's fee; hence, in Spain and countries settled by the Spanish, a land measure of varying size. In Cuba it is about 33 acres; in Porto Rico, about 194 acres; in the Southwestern United States, about 108 acres.

Cabaret (n.) In the United States, a cafe or restaurant where the guests are entertained by performers who dance or sing on the floor between the tables, after the practice of a certain class of French taverns; hence, an entertainment of this nature.

Caber (n.) A pole or beam, esp. one used in Gaelic games for tossing as a trial of strength.

Cabochon (n.) A stone of convex form, highly polished, but not faceted; also, the style of cutting itself. Such stones are said to be cut en cabochon.

Cacochymia (n.) A vitiated state of the humors, or fluids, of the body, esp. of the blood.

-in () A sirupy, nontoxic ptomaine, C5H14N2 (chemically pentamethylene diamine), formed in putrefaction of flesh, etc.

Caddie (n.) An attendant who carries a golf player's clubs, tees his ball, etc.

Cadet (n.) In New Zealand, a young gentleman learning sheep farming at a station; also, any young man attached to a sheep station.

Cadet (n.) A young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels.

Caelatura (n.) Art of producing metal decorative work other than statuary, as reliefs, intaglios, engraving, chasing, etc.

Cafeteria (n.) A restaurant or cafe at which the patrons serve themselves with food kept at a counter, taking the food to small tables to eat.

Cahenslyism (n.) A plan proposed to the Pope in 1891 by P. P. Cahensly, a member of the German parliament, to divide the foreign-born population of the United States, for ecclesiastical purposes, according to European nationalities, and to appoint bishops and priests of like race and speaking the same language as the majority of the members of a diocese or congregation. This plan was successfully opposed by the American party in the Church.

Cahinca root () The root of an American shrub (Chiococca racemosa), found as far north as Florida Keys, from which cahincic acid is obtained; also, the root of the South American Chiococca anguifuga, a celebrated antidote for snake poison.

Caisson disease () A disease frequently induced by remaining for some time in an atmosphere of high pressure, as in caissons, diving bells, etc. It is characterized by neuralgic pains and paralytic symptoms. It is variously explained, most probably as due to congestion of internal organs with subsequent stasis of the blood.

Calaveras skull () A human skull reported, by Prof. J. D. Whitney, as found in 1886 in a Tertiary auriferous gravel deposit, lying below a bed of black lava, in Calaveras County, California. It is regarded as very doubtful whether the skull really belonged to the deposit in which it was found. If it did, it indicates an unprecedented antiquity for human beings of an advanced type.

California jack () A game at cards, a modification of seven-up, or all fours.

Calorisator (n.) An apparatus used in beet-sugar factories to heat the juice in order to aid the diffusion.

Calve (v. i.) To throw off fragments which become icebergs; -- said of a glacier.

Camara (n.) Chamber; house; -- used in Ca"ma*ra dos Pa"res (/), and Ca"ma*ra dos De`pu*ta"dos (/). See Legislature.

Camellia (n.) An ornamental greenhouse shrub (Thea japonica) with glossy evergreen leaves and roselike red or white double flowers.

Camembert cheese () A kind of soft, unpressed cream cheese made in the vicinity of Camembert, near Argentan, France; also, any cheese of the same type, wherever made.

Camorra (n.) A secret organization formed at Naples, Italy, early in the 19th century, and used partly for political ends and partly for practicing extortion, violence, etc.

Canal (n.) A long and relatively narrow arm of the sea, approximately uniform in width; -- used chiefly in proper names; as, Portland Canal; Lynn Canal.

Canape (n.) A slice or piece of bread fried in butter or oil, on which anchovies, mushrooms, etc., are served.

Canape confident () A sofa having a seat at each end at right angles to the main seats.

Candle foot () The illumination produced by a British standard candle at a distance of one foot; -- used as a unit of illumination.

Candle meter () The illumination given by a standard candle at a distance of one meter; -- used as a unit of illumination, except in Great Britain.

Candlenut (n.) The fruit of a euphorbiaceous tree or shrub (Aleurites moluccana), native of some of the Pacific islands. It is used by the natives as a candle. The oil from the nut ( candlenut, / kekune, oil) has many uses.

Candlepin (n.) The game played with such pins; -- in form candlepins, used as a singular.

Candle power () Illuminating power, as of a lamp, or gas flame, reckoned in terms of the light of a standard candle.

Cangue (n.) A very broad and heavy wooden collar which certain offenders in China are compelled to wear as a punishment.

Cannele (n.) A style of interweaving giving to fabrics a channeled or fluted effect; also, a fabric woven so as to have this effect; a rep.

Cannelure (n.) A groove in any cylinder; specif., a groove around the cylinder of an elongated bullet for small arms to contain a lubricant, or around the rotating band of a gun projectile to lessen the resistance offered to the rifling. Also, a groove around the base of a cartridge, where the extractor takes hold.

Cannon (v. i.) To collide or strike violently, esp. so as to glance off or rebound; to strike and rebound.

Capo tasto () A sort of bar or movable nut, attached to the finger board of a guitar or other fretted instrument for the purpose of raising uniformly the pitch of all the strings.

Capri (n.) Wine produced on the island of Capri, commonly a light, dry, white wine.

Capsulotomy (n.) The incision of a capsule, esp. of that of the crystalline lens, as in a cataract operation.

Carbon (n.) A carbon rod or pencil used in an arc lamp; also, a plate or piece of carbon used as one of the elements of a voltaic battery.

Carbonite (n.) An explosive consisting essentially of nitroglycerin, wood meal, and some nitrate, as that of sodium.

Carbonite (n.) An explosive composed of nitrobenzene, saltpeter, sulphur, and kieselguhr.

Carbon process () A printing process depending on the effect of light on bichromatized gelatin. Paper coated with a mixture of the gelatin and a pigment is called carbon paper or carbon tissue. This is exposed under a negative and the film is transferred from the paper to some other support and developed by washing (the unexposed portions being dissolved away). If the process stops here it is called single transfer; if the image is afterward transferred in order to give an unreversed print, the method is called double transfer.

Carbon steel () Steel deriving its qualities from carbon chiefly, without the presence of other alloying elements; -- opposed to alloy steel.

Carbon transmitter () A telephone transmitter in which a carbon contact is used.

Carborundum () A beautiful crystalline compound, SiC, consisting of carbon and silicon in combination; carbon silicide. It is made by heating carbon and sand together in an electric furnace. The commercial article is dark-colored and iridescent. It is harder than emery, and is used as an abrasive.

Carburettor (n.) One that carburets; specif., an apparatus in which air or gas is carbureted, as by passing it through a light petroleum oil. The carburetor for a gasoline engine is usually either a surface carburetor, or a float, float-feed, / spray, carburetor. In the former air is charged by being passed over the surface of gasoline. In the latter a fine spray of gasoline is drawn from an atomizing nozzle by a current of air induced by the suction of the engine piston, the supply of gasoline being regulated by a float which actuates a needle valve controlling the outlet of the feed pipe. Alcohol and other volatile inflammable liquids may be used instead of gasoline.

Carcel (n.) A light standard much used in France, being the light from a Carcel lamp of stated size and construction consuming 42 grams of colza oil per hour with a flame 40 millimeters in height. Its illuminating power is variously stated at from 8.9 to 9.6 British standard candles.

Cardiosclerosis (n.) Induration of the heart, caused by development of fibrous tissue in the cardiac muscle.

Car mile () A mile traveled by a single car, taken as a unit of computation, as in computing the average travel of each car of a system during a given period.

Carminated (a.) Of, relating to, or mixed with, carmine; as, carminated lake.

Carnic (a.) pertaining to or designating a hydroscopic monobasic acid, C10H15O5N3, obtained as a cleavage product from an acid of muscle tissue.

Carnot's cycle () An ideal heat-engine cycle in which the working fluid goes through the following four successive operations: (1) Isothermal expansion to a desired point; (2) adiabatic expansion to a desired point; (3) isothermal compression to such a point that (4) adiabatic compression brings it back to its initial state.

Carromata (n.) In the Philippines, a light, two-wheeled, boxlike vehicle usually drawn by a single native pony and used to convey passengers within city limits or for traveling. It is the common public carriage.

Cartogram (n.) A map showing geographically, by shades or curves, statistics of various kinds; a statistical map.

Cascade method () A method of attaining successively lower temperatures by utilizing the cooling effect of the expansion of one gas in condensing another less easily liquefiable, and so on.

Cascade system () A system or method of connecting and operating two induction motors so that the primary circuit of one is connected to the secondary circuit of the other, the primary circuit of the latter being connected to the source of supply; also, a system of electric traction in which motors so connected are employed. The cascade system is also called tandem, / concatenated, system; the connection a cascade, tandem, / concatenated, connection, or a concatenation; and the control of the motors so obtained a tandem, / concatenation, control.

Cascara buckthorn () The buckthorn (Rhamnus Purshiana) of the Pacific coast of the United States, which yields cascara sagrada.

Cascaron (n.) Lit., an eggshell; hence, an eggshell filled with confetti to be thrown during balls, carnivals, etc.

Caseose (n.) A soluble product (proteose) formed in the gastric and pancreatic digestion of casein and caseinogen.

Case system () The system of teaching law in which the instruction is primarily a historical and inductive study of leading or selected cases, with or without the use of textbooks for reference and collateral reading.

Cashier's check () A check drawn by a bank upon its own funds, signed by the cashier.

Cash railway () A form of cash carrier in which a small carrier or car travels upon a kind of track.

Cash register () A device for recording the amount of cash received, usually having an automatic adding machine and a money drawer and exhibiting the amount of the sale.

Cassava wood () A West Indian tree (Turpinia occidentalis) of the family Staphyleaceae.

Cassel earth () A brown pigment of varying permanence, consisting of impure lignite. It was found originally near Cassel (now Kassel), Germany.

Casse-tete (n.) A small war club, esp. of savages; -- so called because of its supposed use in crushing the skull.

Catacrotic (a.) Designating, pertaining to, or characterized by, that form of pulse tracing, or sphygmogram, in which the descending portion of the curve is marked by secondary elevations due to two or more expansions of the artery in the same beat.

Cataplexy (n.) A morbid condition caused by an overwhelming shock or extreme fear and marked by rigidity of the muscles.

Catch crop () Any crop grown between the rows of another crop or intermediate between two crops in ordinary rotation in point of time.

Catch title () A short expressive title used for abbreviated book lists, etc.

Catchy (a.) Apt or tending to catch the fancy or attention; catching; taking; as, catchy music.

Catchy (a.) Tending to catch or insnare; entangling; -- usually used fig.; as, a catchy question.

Catchy (a.) Consisting of, or occuring in, disconnected parts or snatches; changeable; as, a catchy wind.

Catharsis (n.) The process of relieving an abnormal excitement by reestablishing the association of the emotion with the memory or idea of the event that first caused it, and of eliminating it by complete expression (called the abreaction).

Causerie (n.) Informal talk or discussion, as about literary matters; light conversation; chat.

Caution (n.) A pledge, bond, or other security for the performance of an obligation either in or out of judicial proceedings; the promise or contract of one not for himself but another; security.

Cautionary block () A block in which two or more trains are permitted to travel, under restrictions imposed by a caution card or the like.

Cave (n.) A coalition or group of seceders from a political party, as from the Liberal party in England in 1866. See Adullam, Cave of, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

Ceinture (n.) A cincture, girdle, or belt; -- chiefly used in English as a dressmaking term.

Celestial (a.) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, the Chinese, or Celestial, Empire, of the Chinese people.

Celtium (n.) A supposed new element of the rare-earth group, accompanying lutecium and scandium in the gadolinite earths. Symbol, Ct (no period).

Centauromachy (n.) A fight in which centaurs take part, -- a common theme for relief sculpture, as in the Parthenon metopes.

Centennial State () Colorado; -- a nickname alluding to the fact that it was admitted to the Union in the centennial year, 1876.

seal () A compound hydraulic valve for regulating the passage of the gas through a set of purifiers so as to cut out each one in turn for the renewal of the lime.

punch () A punch for making indentations or dots in a piece of work, as for suspension between lathe centers, etc.

punch () A punch for punching holes in sheet metal, having a small conical center to insure correct locating.

Centrifugal filter () A filter, as for sugar, in which a cylinder with a porous or foraminous periphery is rapidly rotated so as to drive off liquid by centrifugal action.

Centrosphere (n.) The nucleus or central part of the earth, forming most of its mass; -- disting. from lithosphere, hydrosphere, etc.

Centrosphere (n.) The central mass of an aster from which the rays extend and within which the centrosome lies when present; the attraction sphere. The name has been used both as excluding and including the centrosome, and also to designate a modified mass of protoplasm about a centrosome whether aster rays are developed or not.

Ceorl (n.) A freeman of the lowest class; one not a thane or of the servile classes; a churl.

Cephalism (n.) Form or development of the skull; as, the races of man differ greatly in cephalism.

Cerevis (n.) A small visorless cap, worn by members of German student corps. It is made in the corps colors, and usually bears the insignia of the corps.

Ceria (n.) Cerium oxide, CeO2, a white infusible substance constituting about one per cent of the material of the common incandescent mantle.

Cerotype (n.) A printing process of engraving on a surface of wax spread on a steel plate, for electrotyping.

Cerulein (n.) A fast dyestuff, C20H8O6, made by heating gallein with strong sulphuric acid. It dyes mordanted fabrics green.

Ceruleum (n.) A greenish blue pigment prepared in various ways, consisting essentially of cobalt stannate. Unlike other cobalt blues, it does not change color by gaslight.

C. G. T. () An abbreviation for Confederation Generale du Travail (the French syndicalist labor union).

Cha (n.) Tea; -- the Chinese (Mandarin) name, used generally in early works of travel, and now for a kind of rolled tea used in Central Asia.

Chagres fever () A form of malarial fever occurring along the Chagres River, Panama.

Chalazogamy (n.) A process of fecundation in which the pollen tube penetrates to the embryosac through the tissue of the chalaza, instead of entering through the micropyle. It was originally discovered by Treub in Casuarina, and has since been found to occur regularly in the families Betulaceae and Juglandaceae. Partial chalazogamy is found in Ulmus, the tube here penetrating the nucleus midway between the chalaza and micropyle.

Chambranle (n.) An ornamental bordering or framelike decoration around the sides and top of a door, window, or fireplace. The top piece is called the traverse and the side pieces the ascendants.

Chamisal (n.) A California rosaceous shrub (Adenostoma fasciculatum) which often forms an impenetrable chaparral.

Champleve (a.) Having the ground engraved or cut out in the parts to be enameled; inlaid in depressions made in the ground; -- said of a kind of enamel work in which depressions made in the surface are filled with enamel pastes, which are afterward fired; also, designating the process of making such enamel work.

Champleve (n.) A piece of champleve enamel; also, the process or art of making such enamel work; champleve work.

Change gear () A gear by means of which the speed of machinery or of a vehicle may be changed while that of the propelling engine or motor remains constant; -- called also change-speed gear.

Change key () A key adapted to open only one of a set of locks; -- distinguished from a master key.

Chanson de geste () Any Old French epic poem having for its subject events or exploits of early French history, real or legendary, and written originally in assonant verse of ten or twelve syllables. The most famous one is the Chanson de Roland.

Chaparajos (n. pl.) Overalls of sheepskin or leather, usually open at the back, worn, esp. by cowboys, to protect the legs from thorny bushes, as in the chaparral; -- called also chapareras or colloq. chaps.

Charlie (n.) As a proper name, a fox; -- so called in fables and familiar literature.

Chasse (n.) A small potion of spirituous liquor taken to remove the taste of coffee, tobacco, or the like; -- originally chasse-cafe, lit., "coffee chaser."

Chassis (n.) The under part of an automobile, consisting of the frame (on which the body is mounted) with the wheels and machinery.

Chatter mark () One of the fine undulations or ripples which are formed on the surface of work by a cutting tool which chatters.

Chauffeur (n.) Brigands in bands, who, about 1793, pillaged, burned, and killed in parts of France; -- so called because they used to burn the feet of their victims to extort money.

Chauffeur (n.) One who manages the running of an automobile; esp., the paid operator of a motor vehicle.

Chautauqua system (of education) () The system of home study established in connection with the summer schools assembled at Chautauqua, N. Y., by the Methodist Episcopal bishop, J. H. Vincent.

Cheese cloth () A thin, loosewoven cotton cloth, such as is used in pressing cheese curds.

Chela (n.) In India, a dependent person occupying a position between that of a servant or slave and a disciple; hence, a disciple or novice.

Chemigraphy (n.) Any mechanical engraving process depending upon chemical action; specif., a process of zinc etching not employing photography.

Chemosis (n.) Inflammatory swelling of the conjunctival tissue surrounding the cornea.

Chemosmosis (n.) Chemical action taking place through an intervening membrane.

Chemosynthesis (n.) Synthesis of organic compounds by energy derived from chemical changes or reactions. Chemosynthesis of carbohydrates occurs in the nitrite bacteria through the oxidation of ammonia to nitrous acid, and in the nitrate bacteria through the conversion of nitrous into nitric acid.

Chemiotaxis () The sensitiveness exhibited by small free-swimming organisms, as bacteria, zoospores of algae, etc., to chemical substances held in solution. They may be attracted (positive chemotaxis) or repelled (negative chemotaxis).

Chicalote (n.) A Mexican prickly poppy (Argemone platyceras), which has migrated into California.

Chicane (n.) In bridge, the holding of a hand without trumps, or the hand itself. It counts as simple honors.

Chicle gum () A gumlike substance obtained from the bully tree (Mimusops globosa) and sometimes also from the naseberry or sapodilla (Sapota zapotilla). It is more plastic than caoutchouc and more elastic than gutta-percha, as an adulterant of which it is used in England. It is used largely in the United States in making chewing gum.

Chico (n.) The common greasewood of the western United States (Sarcobatus vermiculatus).

Chico (n.) In the Philippines, the sapodilla or its fruit; also, the marmalade tree or its fruit.

Chiffon (n.) Any merely ornamental adjunct of a woman's dress, as a bunch of ribbon, lace, etc.

Chih fu () An official administering a prefecture of China; a prefect, supervising the civil business of the hsiens or districts comprised in his fu (which see).

Chih hsien () An official having charge of a hsien, or administrative district, in China; a district magistrate, responsible for good order in his hsien (which see), and having jurisdiction in its civil and criminal cases.

Child study () A scientific study of children, undertaken for the purpose of discovering the laws of development of the body and the mind from birth to manhood.

Chinese Exclusion Act () Any of several acts forbidding the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States, originally from 1882 to 1892 by act of May 6, 1882, then from 1892 to 1902 by act May 5, 1892. By act of April 29, 1902, all existing legislation on the subject was reenacted and continued, and made applicable to the insular possessions of the United States.

Chinoiserie (n.) Chinese conduct, art, decoration, or the like; also, a specimen of Chinese manners, art, decoration, etc.

Chippendale (a.) Designating furniture designed, or like that designed, by Thomas Chippendale, an English cabinetmaker of the 18th century. Chippendale furniture was generally of simple but graceful outline with delicately carved rococo ornamentation, sculptured either in the solid wood or, in the cheaper specimens, separately and glued on. In the more elaborate pieces three types are recognized: French Chippendale, having much detail, like Louis Quatorze and Louis Quinze; Chinese Chippendale, marked by latticework and pagodalike pediments; and Gothic Chippendale, attempting to adapt medieval details. The forms, as of the cabriole and chairbacks, often resemble Queen Anne. In chairs, the seat is widened at the front, and the back toward the top widened and bent backward, except in Chinese Chippendale, in which the backs are usually rectangular.

Chirm (n.) Noise; din; esp.; confused noise, clamor, or hum of many voices, notes of birds, or the like.

Chitty (n.) A short letter or note; a written message or memorandum; a certificate given to a servant; a pass, or the like.

Chitty (n.) A signed voucher or memorandum of a small debt, as for food and drinks at a club.

Chloroplast (n.) A plastid containing chlorophyll, developed only in cells exposed to the light. Chloroplasts are minute flattened granules, usually occurring in great numbers in the cytoplasm near the cell wall, and consist of a colorless ground substance saturated with chlorophyll pigments. Under light of varying intensity they exhibit phototactic movements. In animals chloroplasts occur only in certain low forms.

Chokebore (n.) In a shotgun, a bore which is tapered to a slightly smaller diameter at a short distance (usually 2/ to 3 inches) to the rear of the muzzle, in order to prevent the rapid dispersion of the shot.

Choking coil () A coil of small resistance and large inductance, used in an alternating-current circuit to impede or throttle the current, or to change its phase; -- called also reactance coil or reactor, these terms being now preferred in engineering usage.

Choky (n.) A station, as for collection of customs, for palanquin bearers, police, etc.

sooy () A melange served in Chinese restaurants to be eaten with rice, noodles, etc. It consists typically of bean sprouts, onions, mushrooms, etc., and sliced meats, fried and flavored with sesame oil.

Chortle (v. t. & i.) A word coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), and usually explained as a combination of chuckle and snort.

Chou (n.) A kind of light pastry, usually in the form of a small round cake, and with a filling, as of jelly or cream.

Chou (n.) A bunch, knot, or rosette of ribbon or other material, used as an ornament in women's dress.

Chow (n.) A prefecture or district of the second rank in China, or the chief city of such a district; -- often part of the name of a city, as in Foochow.

Christian Era () The era in use in all Christian countries, which was intended to commence with the birth of Christ. The era as now established was first used by Dionysius Exiguus (died about 540), who placed the birth of Christ on the 25th of December in the year of Rome 754, which year he counted as 1 a. d. This date for Christ's birth is now generally thought to be about four years too late.

Christian Science () A system of healing disease of mind and body which teaches that all cause and effect is mental, and that sin, sickness, and death will be destroyed by a full understanding of the Divine Principle of Jesus' teaching and healing. The system was founded by Rev. Mary Baker Glover Eddy, of Concord, N. H., in 1866, and bases its teaching on the Scriptures as understood by its adherents.

Christian Scientist () A believer in Christian Science; one who practices its teachings.

Christian Seneca () Joseph Hall (1574 -- 1656), Bishop of Norwich, a divine eminent as a moralist.

Christian Socialism () Any theory or system that aims to combine the teachings of Christ with the teachings of socialism in their applications to life; Christianized socialism; esp., the principles of this nature advocated by F. D. Maurice, Charles Kingsley, and others in England about 1850.

Chromatin (n.) The deeply staining substance of the nucleus and chromosomes of cells, now supposed to be the physical basis of inheritance, and generally regarded as the same substance as the hypothetical idioplasm or germ plasm.

Chromophotograph (n.) A picture made by any of the processes for reproducing photographs in colors.

Chronophotograph (n.) One of a set of photographs of a moving object, taken for the purpose of recording and exhibiting successive phases of the motion.

Chthonian (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, gods or spirits of the underworld; esp., relating to the underworld gods of the Greeks, whose worship is widely considered as more primitive in form than that of the Olympian gods. The characteristics of chthonian worship are propitiatory and magical rites and generalized or euphemistic names of the deities, which are supposed to have been primarily ghosts.

Chupatty (n.) A kind of griddlecake of unleavened bread, used among the natives of India.

Churr (n.) A vibrant or whirring noise such as that made by some insects, as the cockchafer, or by some birds, as the nightjar, the partridge, etc.

Cinch (v. t.) To get a sure hold upon; to get into a tight place, as for forcing submission.

Cinch (v. i.) To perform the action of cinching; to tighten the cinch; -- often with up.

Cinch (n.) A variety of auction pitch in which a draw to improve the hand is added, and the five of trumps (called right pedro) and the five of the same color (called left pedro, and ranking between the five and the four of trumps) each count five on the score. Fifty-one points make a game. Called also double pedro and high five.

Cinch (v. t.) In the game of cinch, to protect (a trick) by playing a higher trump than the five.

Cincinnus (n.) A form of monochasium in which the lateral branches arise alternately on opposite sides of the false axis; -- called also scorpioid cyme.

Cinematograph (n.) A machine, combining magic lantern and kinetoscope features, for projecting on a screen a series of pictures, moved rapidly (25 to 50 a second) and intermittently before an objective lens, and producing by persistence of vision the illusion of continuous motion; a moving-picture machine; also, any of several other machines or devices producing moving pictorial effects. Other common names for the cinematograph are animatograph, biograph, bioscope, electrograph, electroscope, kinematograph, kinetoscope, veriscope, vitagraph, vitascope, zoogyroscope, zoopraxiscope, etc.

Cinematograph (n.) A camera for taking chronophotographs for exhibition by the instrument described above.

Cinematographer (n.) One who exhibits moving pictures or who takes chronophotographs by the cinematograph.

Cinquecentist (n.) An Italian of the sixteenth century, esp. a poet or artist.

Cinquecentist (n.) A student or imitator of the art or literature of the Cinquecento.

Citrange (n.) A citrous fruit produced by a cross between the sweet orange and the trifoliate orange (Citrus trifoliata). It is more acid and has a more pronounced aroma than the orange; the tree is hardier. There are several varieties.

Civil Service Commission () In the United States, a commission appointed by the President, consisting of three members, not more than two of whom may be adherents of the same party, which has the control, through examinations, of appointments and promotions in the classified civil service. It was created by act of Jan, 16, 1883 (22 Stat. 403).

Civil Service Reform () The substitution of business principles and methods for political methods in the conduct of the civil service. esp. the merit system instead of the spoils system in making appointments to office.

Clairaudience (n.) Act of hearing, or the ability to hear, sounds not normally audible; -- usually claimed as a special faculty of spiritualistic mediums, or the like.

Clan-na-Gael (n.) A secret society of Irish Fenians founded in Philadelphia in 1881.

Clash gear () A change-speed gear in which the gears are changed by sliding endwise.

Class day () In American colleges and universities, a day of the commencement season on which the senior class celebrates the completion of its course by exercises conducted by the members, such as the reading of the class histories and poem, the delivery of the class oration, the planting of the class ivy, etc.

Clatch (n.) Anything put together or made in a careless or slipshod way; hence, a sluttish or slipshod woman.

Clatch (v. t. & i.) To daub or smear, as with lime; to make or finish in a slipshod way.

Clearcole (n.) A priming of size mixed with whiting or white lead, used in house painting, etc.; also, a size upon which gold leaf is applied in gilding.

Cleek (n.) A large hook or crook, as for a pot over a fire; specif., an iron-headed golf club with a straight, narrow face and a long shaft.

Cleopatra's needle () Either of two obelisks which were moved in ancient times from Heliopolis to Alexandria, one of which is now on the Thames Embankment in London, and the other in Central Park, in the City of New York.

Climactic (a.) Of or pertaining to a climax; forming, or of the nature of, a climax, or ascending series.

Clink (n.) A prison cell; a lockup; -- probably orig. the name of the noted prison in Southwark, England.

Clinostat (n.) An apparatus consisting of a slowly revolving disk, usually regulated by clockwork, by means of wich the action of external agents, as light and gravity, on growing plants may be regulated or eliminated.

Clip (n.) A part, attachment, or appendage, for seizing, clasping, or holding, an object, as a cable, etc.

Cloche (n.) An apparatus used in controlling certain kinds of aeroplanes, and consisting principally of a steering column mounted with a universal joint at the base, which is bellshaped and has attached to it the cables for controlling the wing-warping devices, elevator planes, and the like.

Clockwise (a. & adv.) Like the motion of the hands of a clock; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative.

Clonus (n.) A series of muscular contractions due to sudden stretching of the muscle, -- a sign of certain neuropathies.

Cloot (n.) One of the divisions of a cleft hoof, as in the ox; also, the whole hoof.

Clydesdale (n.) One of a breed of heavy draft horses originally from Clydesdale, Scotland. They are about sixteen hands high and usually brown or bay.

Clydesdale terrier () One of a breed of small silky-haired terriers related to, but smaller than, the Skye terrier, having smaller and perfectly erect ears.

Clytie knot () In hair dressing, a loose, low coil at the back of the head, like the knot on the head of the bust of Clytie by G. F. Watts.

Coacher (n.) one of the side at the bat posted near first or third base to direct a base runner.

Coalsack (n.) Any one of the spaces in the Milky Way which are very black, owing to the nearly complete absence of stars; esp., the large space near the Southern Cross sometimes called the Black Magellanic Cloud.

Coast and Geodetic Survey () A bureau of the United States government charged with the topographic and hydrographic survey of the coast and the execution of belts of primary triangulation and lines of precise leveling in the interior. It now belongs to the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Cocainism (n.) A morbid condition produced by the habitual and excessive use of cocaine.

Cocker spaniel () One of a breed of small or medium-sized spaniels kept for hunting or retrieving game or for household pets. They usually weigh from eighteen to twenty-eight pounds. They have the head of fair length, with square muzzle, the ears long and set low, the legs short or of medium length, and the coat fine and silky, wavy but not curly. Various colors are bred, as black, liver, red, black and white, black and tan, etc.

Cockpit (n.) In some aeroplanes and flying machines, an inclosure for the pilot or a passenger.

Cogon (n.) A tall, coarse grass (Imperata arundinacea) of the Philippine Islands and adjacent countries, used for thatching.

Coherer (n.) Any device in which an imperfectly conducting contact between pieces of metal or other conductors loosely resting against each other is materially improved in conductivity by the influence of Hertzian waves; -- so called by Sir O. J. Lodge in 1894 on the assumption that the impact of the electic waves caused the loosely connected parts to cohere, or weld together, a condition easily destroyed by tapping. A common form of coherer as used in wireless telegraphy consists of a tube containing filings (usually a pinch of nickel and silver filings in equal parts) between terminal wires or plugs (called conductor plugs).

Cohune palm () A Central and South American pinnate-leaved palm (Attalea cohune), the very large and hard nuts of which are turned to make fancy articles, and also yield an oil used as a substitute for coconut oil.

Coign (n.) A var. spelling of Coin, Quoin, a corner, wedge; -- chiefly used in the phrase coign of vantage, a position advantageous for action or observation.

Coinsurance (n.) Insurance jointly with another or others; specif., that system of fire insurance in which the insurer is treated as insuring himself to the extent of that part of the risk not covered by his policy, so that any loss is apportioned between him and the insurance company on the principle of average, as in marine insurance or between other insurers.

Cola (n.) A genus of sterculiaceous trees, natives of tropical Africa, esp. Guinea, but now naturalized in tropical America, esp. in the West Indies and Brazil.

Cola seed () The bitter fruit of Cola acuminata, which is nearly as large as a chestnut, and furnishes a stimulant, which is used in medicine.

Cold wave () In the terminology of the United States Weather Bureau, an unusual fall in temperature, to or below the freezing point, exceeding 16¡ in twenty-four hours or 20¡ in thirty-six hours, independent of the diurnal range.

Collarette (n.) A small collar; specif., a woman's collar of lace, fur, or other fancy material.

Collectivity (n.) The collective sum. aggregate, or mass of anything; specif., the people as a body; the state.

Collotype (n.) A photomechanical print made directly from a hardened film of gelatin or other colloid; also, the process of making such prints. According to one method, the film is sensitized with potassium dichromate and exposed to light under a reversed negative. After the dichromate has been washed out, the film is soaked in glycerin and water. As this treatment causes swelling in those parts of the film which have been acted on by light, a plate results from which impressions can be taken with prepared ink. The albertype, phototype, and heliotype are collotypes.

Colluvies (n.) A collection or gathering, as of pus, or rubbish, or odds and ends.

Coloboma (n.) A defect or malformation; esp., a fissure of the iris supposed to be a persistent embryonic cleft.

Colonialism (n.) The state or quality of, or the relationship involved in, being colonial.

Colonialism (n.) A custom, idea, feature of government, or the like, characteristic of a colony.

Colonialism (n.) The colonial system or policy in political government or extension of territory.

Colony (n.) A cell family or group of common origin, mostly of unicellular organisms, esp. among the lower algae. They may adhere in chains or groups, or be held together by a gelatinous envelope.

Colony (n.) A cluster or aggregation of zooids of any compound animal, as in the corals, hydroids, certain tunicates, etc.

Colorimetry (n.) The quantitative determination of the depth of color of a substance.

Colorimetry (n.) A method of quantitative chemical analysis based upon the comparison of the depth of color of a solution with that of a standard liquid.

Colt pistol () A self-loading or semi-automatic pistol with removable magazine in the handle holding seven cartridges. The recoil extracts and ejects the empty cartridge case, and reloads ready for another shot. Called also Browning, / Colt-Browning, pistol.

Colt revolver () A revolver made according to a system using a patented revolving cylinder, holding six cartridges, patented by Samuel Colt, an American inventor, in 1835. With various modifications, it has for many years been the standard for the United States army.

Columbus Day () The 12th day of October, on which day in 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered America, landing on one of the Bahama Islands (probably the one now commonly called Watling Island), and naming it "San Salvador"; -- called also Discovery Day. This day is made a legal holiday in many States of The United States.

Combustion chamber () A space over, or in front of , a boiler furnace where the gases from the fire become more thoroughly mixed and burnt.

Combustion chamber () The clearance space in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine where the charge is compressed and ignited.

Come-along (n.) A gripping device, as for stretching wire, etc., consisting of two jaws so attached to a ring that they are closed by pulling on the ring.

Comitiva (n.) A body of followers; -- applied to the lawless or brigand bands in Italy and Sicily.

Commandeer (v. t.) To compel to perform military service; to seize for military purposes; -- orig. used of the Boers.

Commando (v. t.) In South Africa, a military body or command; also, sometimes, an expedition or raid; as, a commando of a hundred Boers.

Commerce destroyer () A very fast, unarmored, lightly armed vessel designed to capture or destroy merchant vessels of an enemy. Not being intended to fight, they may be improvised from fast passenger steamers.

Commingler (n.) One that commingles; specif., a device for noiseless heating of water by steam, in a vessel filled with a porous mass, as of pebbles.

Commissionaire (n.) One intrusted with a commission, now only a small commission, as an errand; esp., an attendant or subordinate employee in a public office, hotel, or the like.

Commissionaire (n.) One of a corps of pensioned soldiers, as in London, employed as doorkeepers, messengers, etc.

Commutation ticket () A ticket for transportation at a reduced rate in consideration of some special circumstance, as increase of travel; specif., a ticket for a certain number of, or for daily, trips between neighboring places at a reduced rate, such as are commonly used by those doing business in a city and living in a suburb. Commutation tickets are excepted from the prohibition against special rates contained in the Interstate Commerce Act of Feb. 4, 1887 (24 Stat. 379), and in 145 U. S. 263 it was held that party tickets were also excepted as being "obviously within the commuting principle."

Compo (n.) Short for Composition; -- used, esp. in England, colloq. in various trade applications;

Compo (n.) A carver's mixture of resin, whiting, and glue, used instead of plaster of Paris for ornamenting walls and cornices.

Compos mentis () Sane in mind; being of sound mind, memory, and understanding.

Compound control () A system of control in which a separate manipulation, as of a rudder, may be effected by either of two movements, in different directions, of a single lever, etc.

Compressed yeast () A cake yeast made by filtering the cells from the liquid in which they are grown, subjecting to heavy pressure, and mixing with starch or flour.

Compression projectile () A projectile constructed so as to take the grooves of a rifle by means of a soft copper band firmly attached near its base or, formerly, by means of an envelope of soft metal. In small arms the modern projectile, having a soft core and harder jacket, is subjected to compression throughout the entire cylindrical part.

Comptograph (n.) A machine for adding numbers and making a printed record of the sum.

Concentrator (n.) A frame or ring of wire or hard paper fitting into the cartridge case used in some shotguns, and holding the shot together when discharged, to secure close shooting; also, a device for slightly narrowing the bore at the muzzle for the same purpose.

European concert () An agreement or understanding between the chief European powers to take only joint action in the (European) Eastern Question.

Concert of the powers () An agreement or understanding between the chief European powers, the United States, and Japan in 1900 to take only joint action in the Chinese aspect of the Eastern Question.

Conciergerie (n.) A celebrated prison, attached to the Palais de Justice in Paris.

Concord buggy () A kind of buggy having a body with low sides, and side springs.

Condor (n.) A gold coin of Chile, bearing the figure of a condor, and equal to twenty pesos. It contains 10.98356 grams of gold, and is equivalent to about $7.29. Called also colon.

Condor (n.) A gold coin of Colombia equivalent to about $9.65. It is no longer coined.

Conductance (n.) Conducting power; -- the reciprocal of resistance. A suggested unit is the mho, the reciprocal of the ohm.

Conduit system () A system of electric traction, esp. for light railways, in which the actuating current passes along a wire or rail laid in an underground conduit, from which the current is "picked up" by a plow or other device fixed to the car or electric locomotive. Hence Conduit railway.

Coneflower (n.) Any plant of the genus Rudbeckia; -- so called from the cone-shaped disk of the flower head. Also, any plant of the related genera Ratibida and Brauneria, the latter usually known as purple coneflower.

Cone-nose (n.) A large hemipterous insect of the family Reduviidae, often found in houses, esp. in the southern and western United States. It bites severely, and is one of the species called kissing bugs. It is also called big bedbug.

wain () A kind of large broad-wheeled wagon, usually covered, for traveling in soft soil and on prairies.

Confectioners' sugar () A highly refined sugar in impalpable powder, esp. suited to confectioners' uses.

Confetti (n. pl.) Bonbons; sweetmeats; confections; also, plaster or paper imitations of, or substitutes for, bonbons, often used by carnival revelers, at weddings, etc.

Conformator (n.) An apparatus for taking the conformation of anything, as of the head for fitting a hat, or, in craniometry, finding the largest horizontal area of the head.

Congo group () A group of artificial dyes with an affinity for vegetable fibers, so that no mordant is required. Most of them are azo compounds derived from benzidine or tolidine. Called also benzidine dyes.

Congo red () An artificial red dye from which the Congo group received its name. It is also widely used either in aqueous solution or as test paper (Congo paper) for the detection of free acid, which turns it blue.

Congreve (n.) Short for Cogreve rocket, a powerful form of rocket formerly used in war, either in the field or for bombardment. In the former case it was armed with shell, shrapnel, or other missiles; in the latter, with an inextinguishable explosive material, inclosed in a metallic case. It was guided by a long wooden stick.

Congreve (n.) Short for Congreve match, an early friction match, containing sulphur, potassium chlorate, and antimony sulphide.

Conquian (n.) A game for two, played with 40 cards, in which each player tries to form three or four of a kind or sequences.

Consol (n.) A consolidated annuity (see Consols); -- chiefly in combination or attributively.

race () A game, match, etc., open only to losers in early stages of contests.

Constant (n.) A number whose value, when ascertained (as by observation) and substituted in a general mathematical formula expressing an astronomical law, completely determines that law and enables predictions to be made of its effect in particular cases.

Constant (n.) A number expressing some property or condition of a substance or of an instrument of precision; as, the dielectric constant of quartz; the collimation constant of a transit instrument.

Consumer's goods () Economic goods that directly satisfy human wants or desires, such as food, clothes, pictures, etc.; -- called also consumption goods, or goods of the first order, and opposed to producer's goods.

Consumer's surplus () The excess that a purchaser would be willing to pay for a commodity over that he does pay, rather than go without the commodity; -- called also consumer's rent.

Contagious disease () A disease communicable by contact with a patient suffering from it, or with some secretion of, or object touched by, such a patient. Most such diseases have already been proved to be germ diseases, and their communicability depends on the transmission of the living germs. Many germ diseases are not contagious, some special method of transmission or inoculation of the germs being required.

Conte (n.) A short narrative or tale, esp. one dealing with surprising or marvelous events.

Continental drive () A transmission arrangement in which the longitudinal crank shaft drives the rear wheels through a clutch, change-speed gear, countershaft, and two parallel side chains, in order.

Continental glacier () A broad ice sheet resting on a plain or plateau and spreading outward from a central neve, or region of accumulation.

Continental pronunciation () A method of pronouncing Latin and Greek in which the vowels have their more familiar Continental values, as in German and Italian, the consonants being pronounced mostly as in English. The stricter form of this method of pronouncing Latin approaches the Roman, the modified form the English, pronunciation. The Continental method of Greek pronunciation is often called Erasmian.

Continental system () The system of commercial blockade aiming to exclude England from commerce with the Continent instituted by the Berlin decree, which Napoleon I. issued from Berlin Nov. 21, 1806, declaring the British Isles to be in a state of blockade, and British subjects, property, and merchandise subject to capture, and excluding British ships from all parts of Europe under French dominion. The retaliatory measures of England were followed by the Milan decree, issued by Napoleon from Milan Dec. 17, 1807, imposing further restrictions, and declaring every ship going to or from a port of England or her colonies to be lawful prize.

Contract system () The system of employing convicts by selling their labor (to be performed inside the prison) at a fixed price per day to contractors who are allowed to have agents in the prison to superintend the work.

Contract tablet () A clay tablet on which was inscribed a contract, for safe keeping. Such tablets were inclosed in an outer case (often called the envelope), on which was inscribed a duplicate of the inscription on the inclosed tablet.

Contraplex (a.) Pertaining to the sending of two messages in opposite directions at the same time.

Contredanse (n.) A dance in which the partners are arranged face to face, or in opposite lines.

Contribution plan () A plan of distributing surplus by giving to each policy the excess of premiums and interest earned thereon over the expenses of management, cost of insurance, and the policy value at the date of computation. This excess is called the contribution of the policy.

Control (n.) The complete apparatus used to control a mechanism or machine in operation, as a flying machine in flight;

Control (n.) Any of the physical factors determining the climate of any particular place, as latitude,distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation.

Controller (n.) An electromagnet, excited by the main current, for throwing a regulator magnet into or out of circuit in an automatic device for constant current regulation.

Controller (n.) A kind of multiple switch for gradually admitting the current to, or shutting it off from, an electric motor; as, a car controller for an electric railway car.

Controller (n.) A lever controlling the speed of an engine; -- applied esp. to the lever governing a throttle valve, as of a steam or gasoline engine, esp. on an automobile.

Convoy pennant () A white pennant with red border, carried : (a) Forward on all vessels on convoy duty. (b) Alone by a senior officer present during evolutions or drills, when it commands "Silence." (c) Over a signal number, when it refers to the signal number of an officer in the Annual Navy Register.

Cooee (n.) A peculiar cry uttered by the Australian aborigines as a call to attract attention, and also in common use among the Australian colonists. In the actual call the first syllable is much prolonged (k/"-) and the second ends in a shrill, staccato /. To represent the sound itself the spelling cooee is generally used.

Cooncan (n.) A game of cards derived from conquian, played by two or more players with one or two full packs of cards.

Copalm (n.) The yellowish, fragrant balsam yielded by the sweet gum; also, the tree itself.

Copenhagen (n.) A children's game in which one player is inclosed by a circle of others holding a rope.

Coppice (v. t.) To cause to grow in the form of a coppice; to cut back (as young timber) so as to produce shoots from stools or roots.

Coptic Church () The native church of Egypt or church of Alexandria, which in general organization and doctrines resembles the Roman Catholic Church, except that it holds to the Monophysitic doctrine which was condemned (a. d. 451) by the council of Chalcedon, and allows its priests to marry. The "pope and patriarch" has jurisdiction over the Abyssinian Church. Since the 7th century the Coptic Church has been so isolated from modifying influences that in many respects it is the most ancient monument of primitive Christian rites and ceremonies. But centuries of subjection to Moslem rule have weakened and degraded it.

Coquille (n.) A shell or shell-like dish or mold in which viands are served.

Coquille (n.) A form of ruching used as a dress trimming or for neckwear, and named from the manner in which it is gathered or fulled.

Corbelling (n.) Corbel work or the construction of corbels; a series of corbels or piece of continuous corbeled masonry, sometimes of decorative purpose, as in the stalactite ornament of the Moslems.

Cordite (n.) A smokeless powder composed of nitroglycerin, guncotton, and mineral jelly, and used by the British army and in other services. In making it the ingredients are mixed into a paste with the addition of acetone and pressed out into cords (of various diameters) resembling brown twine, which are dried and cut to length. A variety containing less nitroglycerin than the original is known as cordite M. D.

Cordoba (n.) The monetary unit of Nicaragua, equivalent to the United States gold dollar.

Core (n.) A mass of iron, usually made of thin plates, upon which the conductor of an armature or of a transformer is wound.

Core loss () Energy wasted by hysteresis or eddy currents in the core of an armature, transformer, etc.

Coreplasty (n.) A plastic operation on the pupil, as for forming an artificial pupil.

Corinthian (n.) A man of fashion given to pleasuring or sport; a fashionable man about town; esp., a man of means who drives his own horse, sails his own yacht, or the like.

Corkwood (n.) Any one of several trees or shrubs having light or corky wood;

Corkwood (n.) In the West Indies: (1) Either of the cotton trees Ochroma lagopus and Pariti tiliaceum.

Corner (n.) A free kick from close to the nearest corner flag post, allowed to the opposite side when a player has sent the ball behind his own goal line.

Coronary cushion () A cushionlike band of vascular tissue at the upper border of the wall of the hoof of the horse and allied animals. It takes an important part in the secretion of the horny walls.

Coronium (n.) The principal gaseous substance forming the solar corona, characterized by a green line in the coronal spectrum.

Corps (n.) In some countries of Europe, a form of students' social society binding the members to strict adherence to certain student customs and its code of honor; -- Ger. spelling usually korps.

Correspondence school () A school that teaches by correspondence, the instruction being based on printed instruction sheets and the recitation papers written by the student in answer to the questions or requirements of these sheets. In the broadest sense of the term correspondence school may be used to include any educational institution or department for instruction by correspondence, as in a university or other educational bodies, but the term is commonly applied to various educational institutions organized on a commercial basis, some of which offer a large variety of courses in general and technical subjects, conducted by specialists.

Corridor train () A train whose coaches are connected so as to have through its entire length a continuous corridor, into which the compartments open.

Corroboree (n.) A nocturnal festivity with which the Australian aborigines celebrate tribal events of importance. Symbolic dances are given by the young men of the tribe, while the women act as musicians.

Corroboree (n.) A festivity or social gathering, esp. one of a noisy or uproarious character; hence, tumult; uproar.

Cosmos (n.) A genus of composite plants closely related to Bidens, usually with very showy flowers, some with yellow, others with red, scarlet, purple, white, or lilac rays. They are natives of the warmer parts of America, and many species are cultivated. Cosmos bipinnatus and C. diversifolius are among the best-known species; C. caudatus, of the West Indies, is widely naturalized.

Cossack post () An outpost consisting of four men, forming one of a single line of posts substituted for the more formal line of sentinels and line of pickets.

Cossette (n.) One of the small chips or slices into which beets are cut in sugar making.

Coston lights () Signals made by burning lights of different colors and used by vessels at sea, and in the life-saving service; -- named after their inventor.

Coteau (n.) A hilly upland including the divide between two valleys; a divide.

Cotta (n.) A surplice, in England and America usually one shorter and less full than the ordinary surplice and with short sleeves, or sometimes none.

Cotton batting () Cotton prepared in sheets or rolls for quilting, upholstering, and similar purposes.

Cottonseed meal () A meal made from hulled cotton seeds after the oil has been expressed.

Cottonseed oil () A fixed, semidrying oil extracted from cottonseed. It is pale yellow when pure (sp. gr., .92-.93). and is extensively used in soap making, in cookery, and as an adulterant of other oils.

Couleur (n.) Color; -- chiefly used in a few French phrases, as couler de rose, color of rose; and hence, adjectively, rose-colored; roseate.

Couleur (n.) A suit of cards, as hearts or clubs; -- used in some French games.

Coulomb meter () Any instrument by which electricity can be measured in coulombs.

Coulomb's law () The law that the force exerted between two electric or magnetic charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely to the square of the distance between them.

Coulure (n.) A disease affecting grapes, esp. in California, manifested by the premature dropping of the fruit.

Coumarou (n.) The tree (Dipteryx odorata) which bears the tonka bean; also, the bean itself.

Counterglow (n.) An exceedingly faint roundish or somewhat oblong nebulous light near the ecliptic and opposite the sun, best seen during September and October, when in the constellations Sagittarius and Pisces. Its cause is not yet understood. Called also Gegenschein.

Counterlath (n.) A batten laid lengthwise between two rafters to afford a bearing for laths laid crosswise.

Counterlath (n.) Any lath laid without actual measurement between two gauged laths.

Counterlath (n.) Any of a series of laths nailed to the timbers to raise the sheet lathing above their surface to afford a key for plastering.

Counterlath (n.) One of many laths used in preparing one side of a partition or framed wall, when the other side has been covered in and finished.

Country club () A club usually located in the suburbs or vicinity of a city or town and devoted mainly to outdoor sports.

Country cousin () A relative from the country visiting the city and unfamiliar with city manners and sights.

Coup (n.) A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal at rouge et noir.

Coup (n.) Among some tribes of North American Indians, the act of striking or touching an enemy in warfare with the hand or at close quarters, as with a short stick, in such a manner as by custom to entitle the doer to count the deed an act of bravery; hence, any of various other deeds recognized by custom as acts of bravery or honor.

Coupstick (n.) A stick or switch used among some American Indians in making or counting a coup.

Coverage (n.) The aggregate of risks covered by the terms of a contract of insurance.

Cover crop () A catch crop planted, esp. in orchards. as a protection to the soil in winter, as well as for the benefit of the soil when plowed under in spring.

Coving (n.) A cove or series of coves, as the concaved surface under the overhang of a projecting upper story.

Cowalker (n.) A phantasmic or "astral" body deemed to be separable from the physical body and capable of acting independently; a doppelganger.

Cowpea (n.) A leguminous plant (Vigna Sinensis, syn. V. Catjang) found throughout the tropics of the Old World. It is extensively cultivated in the Southern United States for fodder, and the seed is used as food for man.

Coyotillo (n.) A low rhamnaceous shrub (Karwinskia humboldtiana) of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Its berries are said to be poisonous to the coyote.

C Q D () In radiotelegraphy, the letters signified by the code call formerly used (cf. S O S) by ships in distress, formed by combining the code call C Q (formerly used as a general call for all stations) with D for distress.

Crackajack (n.) An individual of marked ability or excellence, esp. in some sport; as, he is a crackajack at tennis.

Crackajack (n.) A preparation of popped corn, candied and pressed into small cakes.

Crackaloo () A kind of gambling game consisting in pitching coins to or towards the ceiling of a room so that they shall fall as near as possible to a certain crack in the floor.

Cradleland (n.) Land or region where one was cradled; hence, land of origin.

Cramp (n.) A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc.

Crampet (n.) One of the plates of iron, with attached spikes, forming a pair of crampoons

Crampet (n.) an iron plate for a player to stand on when delivering the stones.

Crandall (n.) A kind of hammer having a head formed of a group of pointed steel bars, used for dressing ashlar, etc.

Crane (n.) Any arm which swings about a vertical axis at one end, used for supporting a suspended weight.

Crap (n.) In the game of craps, a first throw of the dice in which the total is two, three, or twelve, in which case the caster loses.

Crapaud (n.) As a proper name, Johnny Crapaud, or Crapaud, a nickname for a Frenchman.

Crawl stroke () A racing stroke, in which the swimmer, lying flat on the water with face submerged, takes alternate overhand arm strokes while moving his legs up and down alternately from the knee.

Craze (n.) A crack in the glaze or enamel such as is caused by exposure of the pottery to great or irregular heat.

Crazing (n.) Fine cracks resulting from shrinkage on the surface of glazed pottery, concrete, or other material. The admired crackle in some Oriental potteries and porcelains is crazing produced in a foreseen and regulated way. In common pottery it is often the result of exposure to undue heat, and the beginning of disintegration.

Crease (n.) The combination of four lines forming a rectangle inclosing either goal, or the inclosed space itself, within which no attacking player is allowed unless the ball is there; -- called also goal crease.

Creosote bush () A shrub (Covillea mexicana) found in desert regions from Colorado to California and southward through Mexico. It has yellow flowers and very resinous foliage with a strong odor of creosote.

Cretacic () Of, pertaining to, or designating, the period of time following the Jurassic and preceding the Eocene.

Crimp (v. t.) In cartridge making, to fold the edge of (a cartridge case) inward so as to close the mouth partly and confine the charge.

Cripple () Swampy or low wet ground, often covered with brush or with thickets; bog.

Crofton system () A system of prison discipline employing for consecutive periods cellular confinement, associated imprisonment under the mark system, restraint intermediate between imprisonment and freedom, and liberation on ticket of leave.

Crookes space () The dark space within the negative-pole glow at the cathode of a vacuum tube, observed only when the pressure is low enough to give a striated discharge; -- called also Crookes layer.

Crookneck (n.) Either of two varieties of squash, distinguished by their tapering, recurved necks. The summer crookneck is botanically a variety of the pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) and matures early in the season. It is pale yellow in color, with warty excrescences. The winter crookneck belongs to a distinct species (C. moschata) and is smooth and often striped.

Cross-buttock (n.) A throw in which the wrestler turns his left side to his opponent, places his left leg across both legs of his opponent, and pulls him forward over his hip; hence, an unexpected defeat or repulse.

Crosse (n.) The implement with which the ball is thrown and caught in the game of lacrosse.

Cross-fertilize (v. t.) To fertilize, as the stigmas of a flower or plant, with the pollen from another individual of the same species.

Crotch (n.) In the three-ball carom game, a small space at each corner of the table. See Crotched, below.

Crotch (v. t.) To provide with a crotch; to give the form of a crotch to; as, to crotch the ends of ropes in splicing or tying knots.

Crotch (v. t.) To notch (a log) on opposite sides to provide a grip for the dogs in hauling.

Crotch chain () A form of tackle for loading a log sideways on a sled, skidway, etc.

Crotched (a.) Lying within a crotch; -- said of the object balls in the three-ball carom game whenever the centers of both lie within a 4/-inch square at a corner of the table, in which case but three counts are allowed unless one or both balls be forced out of the crotch.

Crown colony () A colony of the British Empire not having an elective magistracy or a parliament, but governed by a chief magistrate (called Governor) appointed by the Crown, with executive councilors nominated by him and not elected by the people.

Crownland (n.) In Austria-Hungary, one of the provinces, or largest administrative divisions of the monarchy; as, the crownland of Lower Austria.

Crucible steel () Cast steel made by fusing in crucibles crude or scrap steel, wrought iron, and other ingredients and fluxes.

Cruise (v. i.) To inspect forest land for the purpose of estimating the quantity of lumber it will yield.

Cruise (v. t.) To explore with reference to capacity for the production of lumber; as, to cruise a section of land.

Cruiser (n.) A man-of-war less heavily armed and armored than a battle ship, having great speed, and generally of from two thousand to twelve thousand tons displacement.

Cryometer (n.) A thermometer for the measurement of low temperatures, esp. such an instrument containing alcohol or some other liquid of a lower freezing point than mercury.

Cucullus (n.) A hood-shaped organ, resembling a cowl or monk's hood, as certain concave and arched sepals or petals.

Cucullus (n.) A color marking or structure on the head somewhat resembling a hood.

Cuesta (n.) A sloping plain, esp. one with the upper end at the crest of a cliff; a hill or ridge with one face steep and the opposite face gently sloping.

Cui bono () Lit., for whose benefit; incorrectly understood, it came to be used in the sense, of what good or use; and hence, (what) purpose; object; specif., the ultimate object of life.

Cuirassier (n.) In modern armies, a soldier of the heaviest cavalry, wearing a cuirass only when in full dress.

Cuir bouilli () In decorative art, boiled leather, fitted by the process to receive impressed patterns, like those produced by chasing metal, and to retain the impression permanently.

Culex (n.) A genus of mosquitoes to which most of the North American species belong. Some members of this genus are exceedingly annoying, as C. sollicitans, which breeds in enormous numbers in the salt marshes of the Atlantic coast, and C. pipiens, breeding very widely in the fresh waters of North America. (For characters distinguishing these from the malaria mosquitoes, see Anopheles, above.) The yellow-fever mosquito is now placed in another genus, Stegomyia.

Cultch (n.) Young or seed oysters together with the shells and other objects to which they are usually attached.

Culture (n.) The cultivation of bacteria or other organisms in artificial media or under artificial conditions.

Culture (n.) Those details of a map, collectively, which do not represent natural features of the area delineated, as names and the symbols for towns, roads, houses, bridges, meridians, and parallels.

Culture features () The artificial features of a district as distinguished from the natural.

Culture myth () A myth accounting for the discovery of arts and sciences or the advent of a higher civilization, as in the Prometheus myth.

Culver's root () The root of a handsome erect herb (Leptandra, syn. Veronica, Virginica) common in most moist woods of North America , used as an active cathartic and emetic; also, the plant itself.

Cup shake () A shake or fissure between the annual rings of a tree, found oftenest near the roots.

Curial (a.) Of or pertaining to the papal curia; as, the curial etiquette of the Vatican.

Curial (n.) A member of a curia, esp. of that of Rome or the later Italian sovereignties.

Cuscus (n.) A soft grass (Pennisetum typhoideum) found in all tropical regions, used as food for men and cattle in Central Africa.

Cushion tire () A thick solid-rubber tire, as for a bicycle, with a hollow groove running lengthwise on the inside.

Cussedness (n.) Disposition to willful wrongdoing; malignity; perversity; cantankerousness; obstinacy.

Cut (v. t.) To deflect (a bowled ball) to the off, with a chopping movement of the bat.

Cut (v. t.) To drive (an object ball) to either side by hitting it fine on the other side with the cue ball or another object ball.

Cut (v. t.) To strike (a ball) with the racket inclined or struck across the ball so as to put a certain spin on the ball.

Cut (n.) A slanting stroke causing the ball to spin and bound irregularly; also, the spin so given to the ball.

Cut (n.) A stroke on the off side between point and the wicket; also, one who plays this stroke.

Cutin (n.) A waxy substance which, combined with cellulose, forms a substance nearly impervious to water and constituting the cuticle in plants.

Cycle (n.) A series of operations in which heat is imparted to (or taken away from) a working substance which by its expansion gives up a part of its internal energy in the form of mechanical work (or being compressed increases its internal energy) and is again brought back to its original state.

Cycle (n.) A complete positive and negative wave of an alternating current; one period. The number of cycles (per second) is a measure of the frequency of an alternating current.

Cyclone (n.) In general, a condition of the atmosphere characterized by a central area of pressure much lower than that of surrounding areas, and a system of winds blowing inward and around (clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the northern); -- called also a low-area storm. It is attended by high temperature, moist air, abundant precipitation, and clouded sky. The term includes the hurricane, typhoon, and tropical storms; it should not be applied to the moderate disturbances attending ordinary areas of low pressure nor to tornadoes, waterspouts, or "twisters," in which the vertical motion is more important than the horizontal.

Cyclonoscope (n.) An apparatus to assist in locating the center of a cyclone.

Cymograph (n.) An instrument for making tracings of the outline or contour of profiles, moldings, etc.

Cymometer (n.) an instrument for determining the frequency of electic wave oscillations, esp. in connection with wireless telegraphy.

Cymoscope (n.) Any device for detecting the presence of electric waves. The influence of electric waves on the resistance of a particular kind of electric circuit, on the magnetization of steel, on the polarization of an electrolytic cell, or on the electric condition of a vacuum has been applied in the various cymoscopes.

Dahoon () An evergreen shrub or small tree (Ilex cassine) of the southern United States, bearing red drupes and having soft, white, close-grained wood; -- called also dahoon holly.

Daira (n.) Any of several valuable estates of the Egyptian khedive or his family. The most important are the Da"i*ra Sa"ni*eh (/), or Sa"ni*yeh, and the Da"i*ra Khas"sa, administered by the khedive's European bondholders, and known collectively as the Daira, or the Daira estates.

Dalles (n. pl.) A rapid, esp. one where the channel is narrowed between rock walls.

Damara (n.) A native of Damaraland, German Southwest Africa. The Damaras include an important and warlike Bantu tribe, and the Hill Damaras, who are Hottentots and mixed breeds hostile to the Bantus.

Dandie (n.) In Scott's "Guy Mannering", a Border farmer of eccentric but fine character, who owns two terriers claimed to be the progenitors of the Dandie Dinmont terriers.

Dandie (n.) One of a breed of terriers with short legs, long body, and rough coat, originating in the country about the English and Scotch border.

Dariole (n.) A shell or cup of pastry filled with custard, whipped cream, crushed macaroons, etc.

Dasheen (n.) A tropical aroid (of the genus Caladium, syn. Colocasia) having an edible farinaceous root. It is related to the taro and to the tanier, but is much superior to it in quality and is as easily cooked as the potato. It is a staple food plant of the tropics, being prepared like potatoes, and has been introduced into the Southern United States.

Date line () The hypothetical line on the surface of the earth fixed by international or general agreement as a boundary on one side of which the same day shall have a different name and date in the calendar from its name and date on the other side.

Deacon (v. t.) With humorous reference to hypocritical posing: To pack (fruit or vegetables) with the finest specimens on top; to alter slyly the boundaries of (land); to adulterate or doctor (an article to be sold), etc.

Dead (a.) Carrying no current, or producing no useful effect; -- said of a conductor in a dynamo or motor, also of a telegraph wire which has no instrument attached and, therefore, is not in use.

Dead (a.) Out of play; regarded as out of the game; -- said of a ball, a piece, or a player under certain conditions in cricket, baseball, checkers, and some other games.

Deaden (v. t.) To render impervious to sound, as a wall or floor; to deafen.

Debacle (n.) A sudden breaking up or breaking loose; a violent dispersion or disruption; impetuous rush; outburst.

Debenture (n.) Any of various instruments issued, esp. by corporations, as evidences of debt. Such instruments (often called debenture bonds) are generally, through not necessarily, under seal, and are usually secured by a mortgage or other charge upon property; they may be registered or unregistered. A debenture secured by a mortgage on specific property is called a mortgage debenture; one secured by a floating charge (which see), a floating debenture; one not secured by any charge a naked debenture. In general the term debenture in British usage designates any security issued by companies other than their shares, including, therefore, what are in the United States commonly called bonds. When used in the United States debenture generally designates an instrument secured by a floating charge junior to other charges secured by fixed mortgages, or, specif., one of a series of securities secured by a group of securities held in trust for the benefit of the debenture holders.

Debenture stock () The debt or series of debts, collectively, represented by a series of debentures; a debt secured by a trust deed of property for the benefit of the holders of shares in the debt or of a series of debentures. By the terms of much debenture stock the holders are not entitled to demand payment until the winding up of the company or default in payment; in the winding up of the company or default in payment; in the case of railway debentures, they cannot demand payment of the principal, and the debtor company cannot redeem the stock, except by authority of an act of Parliament.

Debouch (v. i.) To issue; -- said of a stream passing from a gorge out into an open valley or a plain.

Decadent (n.) One that is decadent, or deteriorating; esp., one characterized by, or exhibiting, the qualities of those who are degenerating to a lower type; -- specif. applied to a certain school of modern French writers.

Decathlon (n.) In the modern Olympic Games, a composite contest consisting of a 100-meter run, a broad jump, putting the shot, a running high-jump, a 400-meter run, throwing the discus, a 100-meter hurdle race, pole vaulting, throwing the javelin, and a 1500-meter run.

Decembrist (n.) One of those who conspired for constitutional government against the Emperor Nicholas on his accession to the throne at the death of Alexander I., in December, 1825; -- called also Dekabrist.

Deciare (n.) A measure of area, the tenth part of an are; ten square meters.

Deckle edge () The rough, untrimmed edge of paper left by the deckle; also, a rough edge in imitation of this.

Deckle-edged (a.) Having a deckle edge; as, deckle-edged paper; a deckle-edged book.

Declass (v. t.) To remove from a class; to separate or degrade from one's class.

Decoherer (n.) A device for restoring a coherer to its normal condition after it has been affected by an electric wave, a process usually accomplished by some method of tapping or shaking, or by rotation of the coherer.

Deculassment () An accidental blowing off of, or other serious damage to, the breechblock of a gun; also, a removal of the breechblock for the purpose of disabling the gun.

Deerstalker (n.) A close-fitting hat, with a low crown, such as is worn in deerstalking; also, any stiff, round hat.

Degerminator (n.) A machine for breaking open the kernels of wheat or other grain and removing the germs.

Deglaze (v. t.) To remove the glaze from, as pottery or porcelain, so as to give a dull finish.

Degras (n.) A semisolid emulsion produced by the treatment of certain skins with oxidized fish oil, which extracts their soluble albuminoids. It was formerly solely a by-product of chamois leather manufacture, but is now made for its own sake, being valuable as a dressing for hides.

Delignate (v. t.) To strip or remove the wood from; as, to delignate ramie, in the preparation of ribbons of the fiber for further working.

Delsarte system () A system of calisthenics patterned on the theories of Fran/ois Delsarte (1811 -- 71), a French teacher of dramatic and musical expression.

Delta (n.) The closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, esp. in a three-phase system; -- often used attributively, as delta winding, delta connection (which see), etc.

Delta connection () One of the usual forms or methods for connecting apparatus to a three-phase circuit, the three corners of the delta or triangle, as diagrammatically represented, being connected to the three wires of the supply circuit.

Demit (v. i.) To lay down or relinquish an office, membership, authority, or the like; to resign, as from a Masonic lodge; -- generally used with an implication that the act is voluntary.

Demit (n.) The act of demitting; also, a letter, certificate, or the like, certifying that a person has (honorably) demitted, as from a Masonic lodge.

Demotics (n.) The department of knowledge relative to the care and culture of the people; sociology in its broadest sense; -- in library cataloguing.

Demountable () Capable of being dismounted; -- said of a form of rim, for an automobile wheel, which can be removed with its tire from the wheel.

Denature (v. t.) To deprive of its natural qualities; change the nature of.

Department store () A store keeping a great variety of goods which are arranged in several departments, esp. one with dry goods as the principal stock.

Dephase (v. t.) To put out of phase, as two parts of a single alternating current.

Depth (n.) The perpendicular distance from the chord to the farthest point of an arched surface.

Derecho (n.) A straight wind without apparent cyclonic tendency, usually accompanied with rain and often destructive, common in the prairie regions of the United States.

De rigueur () According to strictness (of etiquette, rule, or the like); obligatory; strictly required.

Derivation (n.) The formation of a word from its more original or radical elements; also, a statement of the origin and history of a word.

Derrick (n.) The pyramidal structure or tower over a deep drill hole, such as that of an oil well.

Desiccator (n.) A short glass jar fitted with an air-tight cover, and containing some desiccating agent, as calcium chloride, above which is placed the material to be dried or preserved from moisture.

Desiccator (n.) A machine or apparatus for drying fruit, milk, etc., usually by the aid of heat; an evaporator.

Destructor (n.) a furnace (called in full refuse destructor) in which the more solid constituents of sewage are burnt. Destructors are often so constructed as to utilize refuse as fuel.

Detail (n.) A minor part, as, in a building, the cornice, caps of the buttresses, capitals of the columns, etc., or (called larger details) a porch, a gable with its windows, a pavilion, or an attached tower.

Detector (n.) A galvanometer, usually portable, for indicating the direction of a current.

Detector (n.) Any of various devices for detecting the presence of electric waves.

Detector bar () A bar, connected with a switch, longer than the distance between any two consecutive wheels of a train (45 to 50 feet), laid inside a rail and operated by the wheels so that the switch cannot be thrown until all the train is past the switch.

Detonator (n.) A case containing detonating powder, the explosion of which serves as a signal, as on railroads.

Developer (n.) A reagent used to produce an ingrain color by its action upon some substance on the fiber.

Dewar vessel () A double-walled glass vessel for holding liquid air, etc., having the space between the walls exhausted so as to prevent conduction of heat, and sometimes having the glass silvered to prevent absorption of radiant heat; -- called also, according to the particular shape, Dewar bulb, Dewar tube, etc.

Dexter (n.) One of a breed of small hardy cattle originating from the Kerry breed of Ireland, valuable both for beef and milk. They are usually chiefly black, sometimes red, and somewhat resemble a small shorthorn in build. Called also Dexter Kerry.

Diabolo (n.) An old game or sport (revived under this name) consisting in whirling on a string, fastened to two sticks, a small somewhat spool-shaped object (called the diabolo) so as to balance it on a string, toss it in the air and catch it, etc.

jubilee () One celebrated upon the completion of sixty, or, according to some, seventy-five, years from the beginning of the thing commemorated.

Diaspora (n.) Lit., "Dispersion." -- applied collectively: (a) To those Jews who, after the Exile, were scattered through the Old World, and afterwards to Jewish Christians living among heathen. Cf. James i. 1. (b) By extension, to Christians isolated from their own communion, as among the Moravians to those living, usually as missionaries, outside of the parent congregation.

Dickey () A hat; esp., in U. S., a stiff hat or derby; in Eng., a straw hat.

Dictaphone (n.) A form of phonographic recorder and reproducer adapted for use in dictation, as in business.

Dictograph (n.) A telephonic instrument for office or other similar use, having a sound-magnifying device enabling the ordinary mouthpiece to be dispensed with. Much use has been made of it for overhearing, or for recording, conversations for the purpose of obtaining evidence for use in litigation.

motor () A type of internal-combustion engine in which the air drawn in by the suction stroke is so highly compressed that the heat generated ignites the fuel (usually crude oil), the fuel being automatically sprayed into the cylinder under pressure. The Diesel engine has a very high thermal efficiency.

Diet (n.) Occasionally, the Reichstag of the German Empire, Reichsrath of the Austrian Empire, the federal legislature of Switzerland, etc.

Diet (n.) The state assembly or any of various local assemblies in the states of the German Empire, as the legislature (Landtag) of the kingdom of Prussia, and the Diet of the Circle (Kreistag) in its local government.

Diet (n.) The federative assembly of the old Germanic Confederation (1815 -- 66).

Diet (n.) In the old German or Holy Roman Empire, the great formal assembly of counselors (the Imperial Diet or Reichstag) or a small, local, or informal assembly of a similar kind (the Court Diet, or Hoftag).

Dig (v. i.) Of a tool: To cut deeply into the work because ill set, held at a wrong angle, or the like, as when a lathe tool is set too low and so sprung into the work.

Dihedral (a.) Of a kite or an aeroplane, having wings that make with one another a dihedral angle, esp. when the angle between the upper sides is less than 180¡.

Dingdong theory () The theory which maintains that the primitive elements of language are reflex expressions induced by sensory impressions; that is, as stated by Max Muller, the creative faculty gave to each general conception as it thrilled for the first time through the brain a phonetic expression; -- jocosely so called from the analogy of the sound of a bell induced by the stroke of the clapper.

Dionysia (n. pl.) Any of the festivals held in honor of the Olympian god Dionysus. They correspond to the Roman Bacchanalia; the greater Dionysia were held at Athens in March or April, and were celebrated with elaborate performances of both tragedies and comedies.

Dionysiac (a.) Of or pertaining to Dionysus or to the Dionysia; Bacchic; as, a Dionysiac festival; the Dionysiac theater at Athens.

Dip (n.) A gymnastic exercise on the parallel bars in which the performer, resting on his hands, lets his arms bend and his body sink until his chin is level with the bars, and then raises himself by straightening his arms.

Dip (n.) In the turpentine industry, the viscid exudation, which is dipped out from incisions in the trees; as, virgin dip (the runnings of the first year), yellow dip (the runnings of subsequent years).

Dip (n.) A sudden drop followed by a climb, usually to avoid obstacles or as the result of getting into an airhole.

Diplex (a.) Pertaining to the sending of two messages in the same direction at the same time. Diplex and contraplex are the two varieties of duplex.

Diplograph (n.) An instrument used for double writing, as one for producing embossed writing for the blind and ordinary writing at the same time.

Dipsy (n.) A sinker attached to a fishing line; also, a line having several branches, each with such a sinker, used in deep-sea fishing.

Direct (a.) Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates; as, direct nomination, direct legislation.

Direct-coupled (a.) Coupled without intermediate connections, as an engine and a dynamo.

Direct current () A current flowing in one direction only; -- distinguished from alternating current. When steady and not pulsating a direct current is often called a continuous current.

Direct current () A direct induced current, or momentary current of the same direction as the inducing current, produced by stopping or removing the latter; also, a similar current produced by removal of a magnet.

Direct nomination () The nomination or designation of candidates for public office by direct popular vote rather than through the action of a convention or body of elected nominating representatives or delegates. The term is applied both to the nomination of candidates without any nominating convention, and, loosely, to the nomination effected, as in the case of candidates for president or senator of the United States, by the election of nominating representatives pledged or instructed to vote for certain candidates dssignated by popular vote.

Directoire style () A style of dress prevalent at the time of the French Directory, characterized by great extravagance of design and imitating the Greek and Roman costumes.

Direct primary () A primary by which direct nominations of candidates for office are made.

Discharge (v. t.) To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process; as, to discharge the color from a dyed fabric in order to form light figures on a dark ground.

Discharge (n.) The equalization of a difference of electric potential between two points. The character of the discharge is mostly determined by the nature of the medium through which it takes place, the amount of the difference of potential, and the form of the terminal conductors on which the difference exists. The discharge may be alternating, continuous, brush, connective, disruptive, glow, oscillatory, stratified, etc.

Disk clutch () A friction clutch in which the gripping surfaces are disks or more or less resemble disks.

Distributor (n.) An appliance, as a roller, in a printing press, for distributing ink.

Distributor (n.) An apparatus for distributing an electric current, either to various points in rotation, as in some motors, or along two or more lines in parallel, as in a distributing system.

Divinity calf () Calf stained dark brown and worked without gilding, often used for theological books.

Do (v. t.) To perform work upon, about, for, or at, by way of caring for, looking after, preparing, cleaning, keeping in order, or the like.

Do (v. t.) To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for.

Dobby (n.) An apparatus resembling a Jacquard for weaving small figures (usually about 12 - 16 threads, seldom more than 36 - 40 threads).

Dobell's solution () An aqueous solution of carbolic acid, borax, sodium bicarbonate, and glycerin, used as a spray in diseases of the nose and throat.

Doe, John () The fictitious lessee acting as plaintiff in the common-law action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being usually denominated Richard Roe. Hence, a fictitious name for a party, real or fictitious, to any action or proceeding.

Doffer (n.) A revolving cylinder, or a vibrating bar, with teeth, in a carding machine, which doffs, or strips off, the fiber from the cards.

Doffer (n.) A worker who replaces full bobbins by empty ones on the throstle or ring frames.

Dolerite (n.) A dark, crystalline, igneous rock, chiefly pyroxene with labradorite.

Dolerite (n.) Any dark, igneous rock composed chiefly of silicates of iron and magnesium with some feldspar.

Dolman (n.) The uniform jacket of many European hussar regiments, worn like a cloak, fastened with a cord or chain, and with sleeves hanging loose.

Dominion Day () In Canada, a legal holiday, July lst, being the anniversary of the proclamation of the formation of the Dominion in 1867.

Domino whist () A game of cards in which the suits are played in sequence, beginning with a 5 or 9, the player who gets rid of his cards first being the winner.

Donnee (n.) Lit., given; hence, in a literary work, as a drama or tale, that which is assumed as to characters, situation, etc., as a basis for the plot or story.

Dope (n.) Any thick liquid or pasty preparation, as of opium for medicinal purposes, of grease for a lubricant, etc.

Dope (n.) Any preparation, as of opium, used to stupefy or, in the case of a race horse, to stimulate.

Dope (n.) An absorbent material; esp., in high explosives, the sawdust, infusorial earth, mica, etc., mixed with nitroglycerin to make a damp powder (dynamite, etc.) less dangerous to transport, and ordinarily explosive only by suitable fulminating caps.

Dope (n.) Information concerning the previous performances of race horses, or other facts concerning them which may be of assistance in judging of their chances of winning future races; sometimes, similar information concerning other sports.

Dope (v. t.) To administer a stimulant to (a horse) to increase his speed. It is a serious offense against the laws of racing.

Dope (v. t.) To judge or guess; to predict the result of, as by the aid of dope.

Dopey (a.) Affected by "dope"; esp., sluggish or dull as though under the influence of a narcotic.

Doppelganger (n.) A spiritual or ghostly double or counterpart; esp., an apparitional double of a living person; a cowalker.

Dormy (a.) Up, or ahead, as many holes as remain to be played; -- said of a player or side.

Dos-a-dos (adv.) Back to back; as, to sit dos-a-dos in a dogcart; to dance dos-a-dos, or so that two dancers move forward and pass back to back.

Dos-a-dos (n.) A sofa, open carriage, or the like, so constructed that the occupants sit back to back.

Dosage (v.) The administration of medicine in doses; specif., a scheme or system of grading doses of medicine according to age, etc.

Dosage (v.) The process of adding some ingredient, as to wine, to give flavor, character, or strength.

Dosimetry (n.) Measurement of doses; specif., a system of therapeutics which uses but few remedies, mostly alkaloids, and gives them in doses fixed by certain rules.

Double (n.) A person or thing that is the counterpart of another; a duplicate; copy; (Obs.) transcript; -- now chiefly used of persons. Hence, a wraith.

Doubleganger (n.) An apparition or double of a living person; a doppelganger.

Doubler (n.) A part of a distilling apparatus for intercepting the heavier fractions and returning them to be redistilled.

Doubler (n.) A blanket or felt placed between the fabric and the printing table or cylinder.

Double-surfaced (a.) Having two surfaces; -- said specif. of aeroplane wings or aerocurves which are covered on both sides with fabric, etc., thus completely inclosing their frames.

Doublure (n.) The lining of a book cover, esp. one of unusual sort, as of tooled leather, painted vellum, rich brocade, or the like.

Downcomer (n.) A pipe for leading the hot gases from the top of a blast furnace downward to the regenerators, boilers, etc.

Downcomer (n.) In some water-tube boilers, a tube larger in diameter than the water tubes to conduct the water from each top drum to a bottom drum, thus completing the circulation.

Doyen (n.) Lit., a dean; the senior member of a body or group; as, the doyen of French physicians.

Draw (v. t.) To play (a short-length ball directed at the leg stump) with an inclined bat so as to deflect the ball between the legs and the wicket.

Draw (v. t.) To hit (the ball) with the toe of the club so that it is deflected toward the left.

Draw (v. t.) To strike (the cue ball) below the center so as to give it a backward rotation which causes it to take a backward direction on striking another ball.

Draw (v. t.) To leave (a contest) undecided; as, the battle or game was drawn.

Draw (n.) The spin or twist imparted to a ball, or the like, by a drawing stroke.

Dreadnought (n.) A British battleship, completed in 1906 -- 1907, having an armament consisting of ten 12-inch guns, and of twenty-four 12-pound quick-fire guns for protection against torpedo boats. This was the first battleship of the type characterized by a main armament of big guns all of the same caliber. She has a displacement of 17,900 tons at load draft, and a speed of 21 knots per hour.

Dreadnought (n.) Any battleship having its main armament entirely of big guns all of one caliber. Since the Dreadnought was built, the caliber of the heaviest guns has increased from 12 in. to 13/ in., 14 in., and 15 in., and the displacement of the largest batteships from 18,000 tons to 30,000 tons and upwards. The term superdreadnought is popularly applied to battleships with such increased displacement and gun caliber.

Dreibund (n.) A triple alliance; specif., the alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy, formed in 1882.

Dress circle () A gallery or circle in a theater, generally the first above the floor, in which originally dress clothes were customarily worn.

Dresser (v. t.) A piece of chamber furniture consisting of a chest of drawers, or bureau, with a mirror.

Dribble (v. t.) In various games, to propel (the ball) by successive slight hits or kicks so as to keep it always in control.

Drift (n.) One of the slower movements of oceanic circulation; a general tendency of the water, subject to occasional or frequent diversion or reversal by the wind; as, the easterly drift of the North Pacific.

Drift (n.) The horizontal component of the pressure of the air on the sustaining surfaces of a flying machine. The lift is the corresponding vertical component, which sustains the machine in the air.

Drive (v. t.) Specif., in various games, as tennis, baseball, etc., to propel (the ball) swiftly by a direct stroke or forcible throw.

Drive (n.) In various games, as tennis, cricket, etc., the act of player who drives the ball; the stroke or blow; the flight of the ball, etc., so driven.

Drive (n.) A stroke from the tee, generally a full shot made with a driver; also, the distance covered by such a stroke.

Drive (n.) A wooden-headed golf club with a long shaft, for playing the longest strokes.

Drove (n.) To drive, as cattle or sheep, esp. on long journeys; to follow the occupation of a drover.

Drum winding () A method of armature winding in which the wire is wound upon the outer surface of a cylinder or drum from end to end of the cylinder; -- distinguished from ring winding, etc.

Duchesse lace () A beautiful variety of Brussels pillow lace made originally in Belgium and resembling Honiton guipure. It is worked with fine thread in large sprays, usually of the primrose pattern, with much raised work.

Duff (v. t.) To treat or manipulate so as to give a specious appearance to; to fake; hence, to cheat.

Duff (v. t.) In Australia, to alter the brands on (cattle, horses, etc.); to steal (cattle, etc.), and alter their brands.

Duffel bag () A sack to hold miscellaneous articles, as tools, supplies, or the like.

Dukhobortsy (n. pl.) A Russian religious sect founded about the middle of the 18th century at Kharkov. They believe that Christ was wholly human, but that his soul reappears from time to time in mortals. They accept the Ten Commandments and the "useful" portions of the Bible, but deny the need of rulers, priests, or churches, and have no confessions, icons, or marriage ceremonies. They are communistic, opposed to any violence, and unwilling to use the labor of animals. Driven out of Russia proper, many have emigrated to Cyprus and Canada. See Raskolnik, below.

Dumdum bullet () A kind of manstopping bullet; -- so named from Dumdum, in India, where bullets are manufactured for the Indian army.

Dumpy level () A level having a short telescope (hence its name) rigidly fixed to a table capable only of rotatory movement in a horizontal plane. The telescope is usually an inverting one. It is sometimes called the Troughton level, from the name of the inventor, and a variety improved by one Gavatt is known as the Gavatt level.

Duograph (n.) A picture printed from two half-tone plates made with the screen set at different angles, and usually printed in two shades of the same color or in black and one tint.

Duotone (n.) Any picture printed in two shades of the same color, as duotypes and duographs are usually printed.

Duotype (n.) A print made from two half-tone plates made from the same negative, but etched differently.

Duplex (a.) To arrange, as a telegraph line, so that two messages may be transmitted simultaneously; to equip with a duplex telegraphic outfit.

Dysprosium (n.) An element of the rare earth-group. Symbol Dy; at. wt., 162.5.

Ear-minded (a.) Thinking chiefly or most readily through, or in terms related to, the sense of hearing; specif., thinking words as spoken, as a result of familiarity with speech or of mental peculiarity; -- opposed to eye-minded.

Earth (n.) The connection of any part an electric conductor with the ground; specif., the connection of a telegraph line with the ground through a fault or otherwise.

Earthlight (n.) The sunlight reflected from the earth to the moon, by which we see faintly, when the moon is near the sun (either before or after new moon), that part of the moon's disk unillumined by direct sunlight, or "the old moon in the arms of the new."

East (a.) Designating, or situated in, that part of a church which contains the choir or chancel; as, the east front of a cathedral.

Easter lily () Any one of various lilies or lilylike flowers which bloom about Easter;

Easter lily () The common white lily (Lilium candidum), called also Annunciation lily.

Easter lily () The larger white lily (Lilium longiflorum eximium, syn. L. Harrisii) called also Bermuda lily.

Eastern Church () That portion of the Christian church which prevails in the countries once comprised in the Eastern Roman Empire and the countries converted to Christianity by missionaries from them. Its full official title is The Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church. It became estranged from the Western, or Roman, Church over the question of papal supremacy and the doctrine of the filioque, and a separation, begun in the latter part of the 9th century, became final in 1054. The Eastern Church consists of twelve (thirteen if the Bulgarian Church be included) mutually independent churches (including among these the Hellenic Church, or Church of Greece, and the Russian Church), using the vernacular (or some ancient form of it) in divine service and varying in many points of detail, but standing in full communion with each other and united as equals in a great federation. The highest five authorities are the patriarch of Constantinople, or ecumenical patriarch (whose position is not one of supremacy, but of precedence), the patriarch of Alexandria, the patriarch of Jerusalem, the patriarch of Antioch, and the Holy Synod of Russia. The Eastern Church accepts the first seven ecumenical councils (and is hence styled only schismatic, not heretical, by the Roman Catholic Church), has as its creed the Niceno-Constantinopolitan (without the later addition of the filioque, which, with the doctrine it represents, the church decisively rejects), baptizes infants with trine immersion, makes confirmation follow immediately upon baptism, administers the Communion in both kinds (using leavened bread) and to infants as well as adults, permits its secular clergy to marry before ordination and to keep their wives afterward, but not to marry a second time, selects its bishops from the monastic clergy only, recognizes the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon as the three necessary degrees of orders, venerates relics and icons, and has an elaborate ritual.

Ecarte (n.) A game at cards for two persons, with 32 cards, ranking K, Q, J, A, 10, 9, 8, 7. Five cards are dealt each player, and the 11th turned as trump. Five points constitute a game.

Echo (n.) A signal, played in the same manner as a trump signal, made by a player who holds four or more trumps (or as played by some exactly three trumps) and whose partner has led trumps or signaled for trumps.

Echo (n.) A signal showing the number held of a plain suit when a high card in that suit is led by one's partner.

Echopathy (n.) A morbid condition characterized by automatic and purposeless repetition of words or imitation of actions.

Edam cheese () A Dutch pressed cheese of yellow color and fine flavor, made in balls weighing three or four pounds, and usually colored crimson outside; -- so called from the village of Edam, near Amsterdam. Also, cheese of the same type, wherever made.

Eddy current () An induced electric current circulating wholly within a mass of metal; -- called also Foucault current.

Eddy kite () A quadrilateral, tailless kite, with convex surfaces exposed to the wind. This kite was extensively used by Eddy in his famous meteorological experiments. It is now generally superseded by the box kite.

Effective (n.) The serviceable soldiers in a country; an army or any military body, collectively; as, France's effective.

Effendi (n.) Master; sir; -- a Turkish title of respect, applied esp. to a state official or man of learning, as one learned in the law, but often simply as the courtesy title of a gentleman.

Eikonogen (n.) The sodium salt of a sulphonic acid of a naphthol, C10H5(OH)(NH2)SO3Na used as a developer.

Eject (v. t.) An object that is a conscious or living object, and hence not a direct object, but an inferred object or act of a subject, not myself; -- a term invented by W. K. Clifford.

Ejecta (n. pl.) Matter ejected; material thrown out; as, the ejecta of a volcano; the ejecta, or excreta, of the body.

Ejector (n.) That part of the mechanism of a breech-loading firearm which ejects the empty shell.

Elderberry (n.) The berrylike drupe of the elder. That of the Old World elder (Sambucus nigra) and that of the American sweet elder (S. Canadensis) are sweetish acid, and are eaten as a berry or made into wine.

Electrify (v. t.) To equip for employment of electric power; as, to electrify a railroad.

Electrograph (n.) An apparatus, controlled by electric devices, used to trace designs for etching.

Electrograph (n.) An instrument for the reproduction at a distance of pictures, maps, etc., by means of electricity.

Electrography (n.) The art or process of making electrographs or using an electrograph.

Electron () One of those particles, having about one thousandth the mass of a hydrogen atom, which are projected from the cathode of a vacuum tube as the cathode rays and from radioactive substances as the beta rays; -- called also corpuscle. The electron carries (or is) a natural unit of negative electricity, equal to 3.4 x 10-10 electrostatic units. It has been detected only when in rapid motion; its mass, which is electromagnetic, is practically constant at the lesser speeds, but increases as the velocity approaches that of light. Electrons are all of one kind, so far as known, and probably are the ultimate constituents of all atoms. An atom from which an electron has been detached has a positive charge and is called a coelectron.

Electropoion fluid () An exciting and depolarizing acid solution used in certain cells or batteries, as the Grenet battery. Electropoion is best prepared by mixing one gallon of concentrated sulphuric acid diluted with three gallons of water, with a solution of six pounds of potassium bichromate in two gallons of boiling water. It should be used cold.

Elevator (n.) A movable plane or group of planes used to control the altitude or fore-and-aft poise or inclination of an airship or flying machine.

Emissivity (n.) Tendency to emission; comparative facility of emission, or rate at which emission takes place;

Emissivity (n.) the rate of emission of heat from a bounding surface per degree of temperature difference between the surface and surrounding substances (called by Fourier external conductivity).

Emplace (v. & n.) To put into place or position; to fix on an emplacement.

Emplacement (n.) A putting in, or assigning to, a definite place; localization; as, the emplacement of a structure.

Empressement (n.) Demonstrative warmth or cordiality of manner; display of enthusiasm.

Enamel (n.) Any one of various preparations for giving a smooth, glossy surface like that of enamel.

Enamel (n.) A cosmetic intended to give the appearance of a smooth and beautiful complexion.

Endemic (a.) Belonging or native to a particular people or country; native as distinguished from introduced or naturalized; hence, regularly or ordinarily occurring in a given region; local; as, a plant endemic in Australia; -- often distinguished from exotic.

Endothermic (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a reaction which occurs with absorption of heat; formed by such a reaction; as, an endothermic substance; -- opposed to exothermic.

Enface (v. t.) To write or print on the face of (a draft, bill, etc.); as, to enface drafts with memoranda.

Enface (v. t.) To write or print (a memorandum, direction, or the like) on the face of a draft, bill, etc.; as, to enface the words "Payable in Calcutta" upon the face of a draft.

Enfleurage (n.) A process of extracting perfumes by exposing absorbents, as fixed oils or fats, to the exhalations of the flowers. It is used for plants whose volatile oils are too delicate to be separated by distillation.

Engineer Corps () In the United States army, the Corps of Engineers, a corps of officers and enlisted men consisting of one band and three battalions of engineers commanded by a brigadier general, whose title is Chief of Engineers. It has charge of the construction of fortifications for land and seacoast defense, the improvement of rivers and harbors, the construction of lighthouses, etc., and, in time of war, supervises the engineering operations of the armies in the field.

Corps of Engineers () In the United States navy, a corps made up of the engineers, which was amalgamated with the line by act of March 3, 1899. It consisted of assistant and passed assistant engineers, ranking with ensigns and lieutenants, chief engineers, ranking from lieutenant to captain, and engineer in chief, ranking with commodore and having charge of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.

Engine-type generator () A generator having its revolving part carried on the shaft of the driving engine.

En passant () of the taking of an adverse pawn which makes a first move of two squares by a pawn already so advanced as to threaten the first of these squares. The pawn which takes en passant is advanced to the threatened square.

En rapport () In accord, harmony, or sympathy; having a mutual, esp. a private, understanding; of a hypnotic subject, being in such a mental state as to be especially subject to the influence of a particular person or persons.

Entanglement (n.) An extensive low obstacle formed of stakes, stumps, or the like, connected by wires, ropes, or the like.

Entanglement (n.) An obstruction of cables and spars across a river or harbor entrance.

Entire-wheat (a.) Designating, made of, or relating to, flour including a considerable part of the bran.

Entourage (n.) Surroundings; specif., collectively, one's attendants or associates.

Epworth League () A religious organization of Methodist young people, founded in 1889 at Cleveland, Ohio, and taking its name from John Wesley's birthplace, Epworth, Lincolnshire, England.

Equalizer (n.) A device, as a bar, for operating two brakes, esp. a pair of hub brakes for an automobile, with equal force.

Equalizer (n.) Any device for equalizing the pull of electromagnets; also, a conductor of low resistance joining the armature ends of the series field coils of dynamos connected in parallel.

Equalizer (n.) A sliding panel to preserve the lateral stability of an aeroplane.

Erasure (n.) An instance of erasing; also, the place where something has been erased.

Erbium (n.) A metallic element of the rare earth group, found in gadolinite and some other minerals. Symbol, Er; at. wt. 167.4. Its salts are rose-colored and give characteristic spectra.

Ergograph (n.) An instrument for measuring and recording the work done by a single muscle or set of muscles, the rate of fatigue, etc.

Ergometer (n.) A device for measuring, or an instrument for indicating, energy expended or work done; a dynamometer.

Ergon (n.) Work, measured in terms of the quantity of heat to which it is equivalent.

Erode (v. t.) To produce by erosion, or wearing away; as, glaciers erode U-shaped valleys.

Erosion (n.) The wearing away of the earth's surface by any natural process. The chief agent of erosion is running water; minor agents are glaciers, the wind, and waves breaking against the coast.

Erupt (v. i.) To eject something, esp. lava, water, etc., as a volcano or geyser.

Erupt (v. i.) To burst forth; to break out, as ashes from a volcano, teeth through the gums, etc.

Escalator (n.) A stairway or incline arranged like an endless belt so that the steps or treads ascend or descend continuously, and one stepping upon it is carried up or down; -- a trade term.

Esoteric (a.) Marked by secrecy or privacy; private; select; confidential; as, an esoteric purpose; an esoteric meeting.

Esoteric (n.) An esoteric doctrine or treatise; esoteric philosophy; esoterics.

Esoteric (n.) One who believes, or is an initiate, in esoteric doctrines or rites.

Esperanto (n.) An artificial language, intended to be universal, devised by Dr. Zamenhof, a Russian, who adopted the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto" in publishing his first pamphlet regarding it in 1887. The vocabulary is very largely based upon words common to the chief European languages, and sounds peculiar to any one language are eliminated. The spelling is phonetic, and the accent (stress) is always on the penult.

Established suit () A plain suit in which a player (or side) could, except for trumping, take tricks with all his remaining cards.

Etape (n.) the place where troops on the march halt over night; also, by extension, the distance marched during a day.

Etape (n.) In Russia, a prison or stockade for the confinement of prisoners in transit.

Ethos (n.) The character, sentiment, or disposition of a community or people, considered as a natural endowment; the spirit which actuates manners and customs; also, the characteristic tone or genius of an institution or social organization.

Ethos (n.) The traits in a work of art which express the ideal or typic character -- character as influenced by the ethos (sense 1) of a people -- rather than realistic or emotional situations or individual character in a narrow sense; -- opposed to pathos.

Ethylate (v. t.) To treat in such a way as to cause the introduction of one or more ethyl groups, C2H5; as, to ethylate alcohol.

Eugenesis (n.) The quality or condition of having strong reproductive powers; generation with full fertility between different species or races, specif. between hybrids of the first generation.

Eurafrican (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the continents of Europe and Africa combined.

Eurafrican (a.) Pert. to or designating a region including most of Europe and northern Africa south to the Sahara.

Europium (n.) A metallic element of the rare-earth group, discovered spectroscopically by Demarcay in 1896. Symbol, Eu; at. wt., 152.0.

Eutectic (a.) Of maximum fusibility; -- said of an alloy or mixture which has the lowest melting point which it is possible to obtain by the combination of the given components.

Eutexia (n.) The principle or process of forming from given components the eutectic alloy, or alloy of maximum fusibility.

Evaginate (a.) Protruded, or grown out, as an evagination; turned inside out; unsheathed; evaginated; as, an evaginate membrane.

Evergreen State () Washington; -- a nickname alluding to the abundance of evergreen trees.

Exaltation (n.) An abnormal sense of personal well-being, power, or importance, -- a symptom observed in various forms of insanity.

Exchange editor () An editor who inspects, and culls from, periodicals, or exchanges, for his own publication.

Excite (v. t.) To energize (an electro-magnet); to produce a magnetic field in; as, to excite a dynamo.

Ex libris () An inscription, label, or the like, in a book indicating its ownership; esp., a bookplate.

Exmoor (n.) One of a breed of horned sheep of Devonshire, England, having white legs and face and black nostrils. They are esp. valuable for mutton.

Exothermic (a.) Characterized by, or formed with, evolution of heat; as, an exothermic reaction; -- opposed to endothermic.

Experience table () A table of mortality computed from the experience of one or more life-insurance companies.

Express rifle () A sporting rifle for use at short ranges, employing a large charge of powder and a light (short) bullet, giving a high initial velocity and consequently a flat trajectory. It is usually of moderately large caliber.

Express train () Formerly, a railroad train run expressly for the occasion; a special train; now, a train run at express or special speed and making few stops.

Exsert (a.) To thrust out; to protrude; as, some worms are said to exsert the proboscis.

Externe (n.) An extern; esp;, a doctor or medical student who is in attendance upon, or is assisting at, a hospital, but who does not reside in it.

Extra (n.) Something in addition to what is due, expected, or customary; esp., an added charge or fee, or something for which an additional charge is made.

Extra (n.) An edition of a newspaper issued at a time other than the regular one.

Extra (n.) A run, as from a bye, credited to the general score but not made from a hit.

Extractor (n.) A machine for clearing combs of honey; also, a device for rendering wax.

Extrajudicial (a.) Out of or beyond the power authority of a court or judge; beyond jurisdiction; not valid as a part of a judicial proceeding; as, extrajudicial oaths, judgments, etc., are null and void.

Extrajudicial conveyance () A conveyance, as by deed, effected by the act of the parties and not involving, as in the fine and recovery, judicial proceedings.

Extravasate (v. t.) To pass by infiltration or effusion from the normal channel, such as a blood vessel or a lymphatic, into the surrounding tissue; -- said of blood, lymph, etc.

Extravasation (n.) The issue of lava and other volcanic products from the earth.

Extrude (v. t.) To shape or form by forcing metal heated to a semi-plastic condition through dies by the use of hydraulic power; as, extruded metal, extruded rods, extruded shapes.

Extrusive (a.) Forced out at the surface; as, extrusive rocks; -- contrasted with intrusive.

Eye-minded (a.) Having one's mental imagery prevailingly of the visual type; having one's thoughts and memories mainly in the form of visual images.

Eye opener () That which makes the eyes open, as startling news or occurrence, or (U. S. Slang), a drink of liquor, esp. the first one in the morning.

Fabian (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, a society of socialists, organized in England in 1884 to spread socialistic principles gradually without violent agitation.

Facultative (a.) Having relation to the grant or exercise faculty, or authority, privilege, license, or the like hence, optional; as, facultative enactments, or those which convey a faculty, or permission; the facultative referendum of Switzerland is one that is optional with the people and is necessary only when demanded by petition; facultative studies; -- opposed to obligatory and compulsory, and sometimes used with to.

Facultative (a.) Of such a character as to admit of existing under various forms or conditions, or of happening or not happening, or the like;

Facultative (a.) Having the power to live under different conditions; as, a facultative parasite, a plant which is normally saprophytic, but which may exist wholly or in part as a parasite; -- opposed to obligate.

Faineant deity () A deity recognized as real but conceived as not acting in human affairs, hence not worshiped.

Fair catch () A catch made by a player on side who makes a prescribed signal that he will not attempt to advance the ball when caught. He must not then be interfered with.

Faker (n.) One who fakes something, as a thief, a peddler of petty things, a workman who dresses things up, etc.

Fan-tan (n.) A Chinese gambling game in which coins or other small objects are placed upon a table, usually under a cap, and the players bet as to what remainder will be left when the sum of the counters is divided by four.

Fan-tan (n.) A game with playing cards in which the cards are played in sequences upon the table, the one who first gets rid of his cards being the winner.

Fantad (n.) State of worry or excitement; fidget; fuss; also, indisposition; pet; sulks.

Faradize (v. t.) To stimulate with, or subject to, faradic, or inducted, electric currents.

Farandole (n.) A rapid dance in six-eight time in which a large number join hands and dance in various figures, sometimes moving from room to room. It originated in Provence.

Fascicle (n.) One of the divisions of a book published in parts; fasciculus.

Fascicule (n.) A small bunch or bundle; a fascicle; as, a fascicule of fibers, hairs, or spines.

Fast (a.) In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table, etc.

Fault (n.) A defective point in an electric circuit due to a crossing of the parts of the conductor, or to contact with another conductor or the earth, or to a break in the circuit.

Fault (n.) A dislocation caused by a slipping of rock masses along a plane of facture; also, the dislocated structure resulting from such slipping.

Favier explosive () Any of several explosive mixtures, chiefly of ammonium nitrate and a nitrate derivative of naphthalene. They are stable, but require protection from moisture. As prepared it is a compressed cylinder of the explosive, filled with loose powder of the same composition, all inclosed in waterproof wrappers. It is used for mining.

Featherbone (n.) A substitute for whalebone, made from the quills of geese and turkeys.

Featherstitch (n.) A kind of embroidery stitch producing a branching zigzag line.

Feng-hwang (n.) A pheasantlike bird of rich plumage and graceful form and movement, fabled to appear in the land on the accession of a sage to the throne, or when right principles are about to prevail. It is often represented on porcelains and other works of art.

Feng-shui (n.) A system of spirit influences for good and evil believed by the Chinese to attend the natural features of landscape; also, a kind of geomancy dealing with these influences, used in determining sites for graves, houses, etc.

Fermentation theory () The theory which likens the course of certain diseases (esp. infectious diseases) to the process of fermentation, and attributes them to the organized ferments in the body. It does not differ materially from the accepted germ theory (which see).

Fermeture (n.) The mechanism for closing the breech of a breech-loading firearm, in artillery consisting principally of the breechblock, obturator, and carrier ring.

Ferranti mains () A form of conductor, designed by Ferranti, for currents of high potential, and consisting of concentric tubes of copper separated by an insulating material composed of paper saturated with black mineral wax.

Ferranti phenomenon () An increase in the ratio of transformation of an alternating current converter, accompanied by other changes in electrical conditions, occurring when the secondary of the converter is connected with a condenser of moderate capacity; -- so called because first observed in connection with the Ferranti cables in London.

Ferris wheel () An amusement device consisting of a giant power-driven steel wheel, revolvable on its stationary axle, and carrying a number of balanced passenger cars around its rim; -- so called after G. W. G. Ferris, American engineer, who erected the first of its kind for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Ferro-concrete (n.) Concrete strengthened by a core or foundation skeleton of iron or steel bars, strips, etc. Floors, columns, piles, water pipes, etc., have been successfully made of it. Called also armored concrete steel, and reenforced concrete.

Fiesta (n.) Among Spanish, a religious festival; a saint's day or holiday; also, a holiday or festivity.

Figuline (a.) Made of clay, as by the potter; -- said of vessels, ornamental figures, or the like; as, figuline ware.

Filarial (a.) Of, pertaining to, or caused by, filariae and allied parasitic worms.

Filariasis (n.) The presence of filariae in the blood; infection with filariae.

File closer () A commissioned or noncommissioned officer posted in the rear of a line, or on the flank of a column, of soldiers, to rectify mistakes and insure steadiness and promptness in the ranks.

Filiation (n.) Descent from, or as if from, a parent; relationship like that of a son; as, to determine the filiation of a language.

Filiation (n.) One that is derived from a parent or source; an offshoot; as, the filiations are from a common stock.

Filioque (n.) The Latin for, "and from the Son," equivalent to et filio, inserted by the third council of Toledo (a. d. 589) in the clause qui ex Patre procedit (who proceedeth from the Father) of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (a. d. 381), which makes a creed state that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father. Hence, the doctrine itself (not admitted by the Eastern Church).

Filipino (n.) A native of the Philippine Islands, specif. one of Spanish descent or of mixed blood.

Fill (n.) That which fills; filling; specif., an embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.

Filled cheese () An inferior kind of cheese made from skim milk with a fatty "filling," such as oleomargarine or lard, to replace the fat removed in the cream.

Filler (n.) A composition, as of powdered silica and oil, used to fill the pores and grain of wood before applying paint, varnish, etc.

Filler (n.) Any standing tree or standard higher than the surrounding coppice in the form of forest known as coppice under standards. Chiefly used in the pl.

Film (n.) The layer, usually of gelatin or collodion, containing the sensitive salts of photographic plates; also, the flexible sheet of celluloid or the like on which this layer is sometimes mounted.

Filoselle (n.) A kind of silk thread less glossy than floss, and spun from coarser material. It is much used in embroidery instead of floss.

Fils (n.) Son; -- sometimes used after a French proper name to distinguish a son from his father, as, Alexandre Dumas, fils.

Fin (n.) A fixed stabilizing surface, usually vertical, similar in purpose to a bilge keel on a ship.

Finalist (n.) Any of the players who meet in the final round of a tournament in which the losers in any round do not play again.

Finance (v. t. & i.) To conduct the finances of; to provide for, and manage, the capital for; to financier.

Finder (n.) A slide ruled in squares, so as to assist in locating particular points in the field of vision.

Fin de siecle () Lit., end of the century; -- mostly used adjectively in English to signify: belonging to, or characteristic of, the close of the 19th century; modern; "up-to-date;" as, fin-de-siecle ideas.

Fine (adv.) In a manner so that the driven ball strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be deflected but little, the object ball being driven to one side.

Fine (v. i.) To become fine (in any one of various senses); as, the ale will fine; the weather fined.

Finjan (n.) In the Levant, a small coffee cup without a handle, such as is held in a cup or stand called a zarf.

Fin keel () A projection downward from the keel of a yacht, resembling in shape the fin of a fish, though often with a cigar-shaped bulb of lead at the bottom, and generally made of metal. Its use is to ballast the boat and also to enable her to sail close to the wind and to make the least possible leeway by offering great resistance to lateral motion through the water.

Finsen light () Highly actinic light, derived from sunlight or from some form of electric lamp, used in the treatment of lupus and other cutaneous affections.

Firing pin () In the breech mechanism of a firearm, the pin which strikes the head of the cartridge and explodes it.

Flacherie (n.) A bacterial disease of silkworms, supposed to be due to eating contaminated mulberry leaves.

Flag (n.) One of the wing feathers next the body of a bird; -- called also flag feather.

Flag (v. t.) To decoy (game) by waving a flag, handkerchief, or the like to arouse the animal's curiosity.

Flambe (a.) Decorated by glaze splashed or irregularly spread upon the surface, or apparently applied at the top and allowed to run down the sides; -- said of pieces of Chinese porcelain.

Flanerie (n.) Lit., strolling; sauntering; hence, aimless; idleness; as, intellectual flanerie.

Flannel flower () A Brazilian apocynaceous vine (Macrosiphonia longiflora) having woolly leaves.

Flannel flower () An umbelliferous Australian flower (Actinotus helianthi), often erroneously thought to be composite. The involucre looks as if cut out of white flannel.

Flare (n.) A defect in a photographic objective such that an image of the stop, or diaphragm, appears as a fogged spot in the center of the developed negative.

Flash boiler () A variety of water-tube boiler, used chiefly in steam automobiles, consisting of a nest of strong tubes with very little water space, kept nearly red hot so that the water as it trickles drop by drop into the tubes is immediately flashed into steam and superheated.

Flash burner () A gas burner with a device for lighting by an electric spark.

Flat (a.) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft; -- said of a club.

Flat (a.) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix, or an infinitive without the sign to. Many flat adverbs, as in run fast, buy cheap, are from AS. adverbs in -e, the loss of this ending having made them like the adjectives. Some having forms in ly, such as exceeding, wonderful, true, are now archaic.

Flatware (n.) Articles for the table, as china or silverware, that are more or less flat, as distinguished from hollow ware.

Fleet (v. i.) To move or change in position; -- said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft.

Fleet (v. t.) To move or change in position; used only in special phrases; as, of fleet aft the crew.

Fleuron (n.) A flower-shaped ornament, esp. one terminating an object or forming one of a series, as a knob of a cover to a dish, or a flower-shaped part in a necklace.

Flick (v. t.) To throw, snap, or toss with a jerk; to flirt; as, to flick a whiplash.

Flick (v. t.) A light quick stroke or blow, esp. with something pliant; a flirt; also, the sound made by such a blow.

Flitch (n.) To cut into, or off in, flitches or strips; as, to flitch logs; to flitch bacon.

Flyte (n.) Strife; dispute; abusive or upbraiding talk, as in fliting; wrangling.

Flytting (n.) Contention; strife; scolding; specif., a kind of metrical contest between two persons, popular in Scotland in the 16th century.

Floater () A voter who shifts from party to party, esp. one whose vote is purchasable.

Floater () A person, as a delegate to a convention or a member of a legislature, who represents an irregular constituency, as one formed by a union of the voters of two counties neither of which has a number sufficient to be allowed a (or an extra) representative of its own.

Floater () A person who votes illegally in various polling places or election districts, either under false registration made by himself or under the name of some properly registered person who has not already voted.

Floating (n.) The process of rendering oysters and scallops plump by placing them in fresh or brackish water; -- called also fattening, plumping, and laying out.

lien () A charge, lien, etc., that successively attaches to such assets as a person may have from time to time, leaving him more or less free to dispose of or encumber them as if no such charge or lien existed.

Flocculate (v. t.) To convert into floccules or flocculent aggregates; to make granular or crumbly; as, the flocculating of a soil improves its mechanical condition.

Floccule (n.) A detached mass of loosely fibrous structure like a shredded tuft of wool.

Floccule (n.) Specif.: A small particle of an insoluble substance formed in a liquid by the union of smaller particles.

Flocculent (a.) Having a structure like shredded wool, as some precipitates.

Flong (n.) A compressed mass of paper sheets, forming a matrix or mold for stereotype plates.

Floriation (n.) Ornamentation by means of flower forms, whether closely imitated or conventionalized.

Floss (n.) A body feather of an ostrich. Flosses are soft, and gray from the female and black from the male.

Flotation (n.) Act of financing, or floating, a commercial venture or an issue of bonds, stock, or the like.

Flotation process () A process of separating the substances contained in pulverized ore or the like by depositing the mixture on the surface of a flowing liquid, the substances that are quickly wet readily overcoming the surface tension of the liquid and sinking, the others flowing off in a film or slime on the surface, though, perhaps, having a greater specific gravity than those that sink.

Flower State () Florida; -- a nickname, alluding to sense of L. floridus, from florida flowery. See Florid.

Flue (n.) In an organ flue pipe, the opening between the lower lip and the languet.

Flue pipe () A pipe, esp. an organ pipe, whose tone is produced by the impinging of a current of air upon an edge, or lip, causing a wave motion in the air within; a mouth pipe; -- distinguished from reed pipe. Flue pipes are either open or closed (stopped at the distant end). The flute and flageolet are open pipes; a bottle acts as a closed pipe when one blows across the neck. The organ has both open and closed flue pipes, those of metal being usually round in section, and those of wood triangular or square.

Fluke (v. t. & i.) To get or score by a fluke; as, to fluke a play in billiards.

Fluorescence (n.) A property possessed by fluor spar, uranium glass, sulphide of calcium, and many other substances, of glowing without appreciable rise of temperature when exposed to light or to ultra-violet rays, cathode rays, X rays, etc.

Fluoroscope (n.) A fluorescent screen, with hood to protect the eyes, used for observing the shadows cast by objects placed in the path of the X rays.

Fluoroscopy (n.) Examination of an object, as the human body, by exposing it to the X rays and observing the shadow cast upon a fluorescent screen; cryptoscopy.

Flush (v. t.) To cause by flow; to draw water from, or pour it over or through (a pond, meadow, sewer, etc.); to cleanse by means of a rush of water.

Flush (v. i.) To operate a placer mine, where the continuous supply of water is insufficient, by holding back the water, and releasing it periodically in a flood.

Flush (v. i.) To fill underground spaces, especially in coal mines, with material carried by water, which, after drainage, constitutes a compact mass.

Fluviograph (n.) An instrument for measuring and recording automatically the rise and fall of a river.

Fluviometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the height of water in a river; a river gauge.

Fly fungus () A poisonous mushroom (Amanita muscaria, syn. Agaricus muscarius), having usually a bright red or yellowish cap covered with irregular white spots. It has a distinct volva at the base, generally an upper ring on the stalk, and white spores. Called also fly agaric, deadly amanita.

Flyaway (a.) Disposed to fly away; flighty; unrestrained; light and free; -- used of both persons and things.

Flyaway grass () The hair grass (Agrostis scabra). So called from its light panicle, which is blown to great distances by the wind.

Flying boat () A compact form of hydro-aeroplane having one central body, or hull.

Foehn (n.) A warm dry wind that often blows in the northern valleys of the Alps, due to the indraught of a storm center passing over Central Europe. The wind, heated by compression in its descent from the mountains, reaches the base, particularly in winter, dry and warm.

Fog (n.) Cloudiness or partial opacity of those parts of a developed film or a photograph which should be clear.

Fog (v. t.) To render semiopaque or cloudy, as a negative film, by exposure to stray light, too long an exposure to the developer, etc.

Fog belt () A region of the ocean where fogs are of marked frequency, as near the coast of Newfoundland.

Fogbow (n.) A nebulous arch, or bow, of white or yellowish light sometimes seen in fog, etc.

Fogy (n.) In the United States service, extra pay granted to officers for length of service.

Folkething (n.) The lower house of the Danish Rigsdag, or Parliament. See Legislature, below.

Follow (n.) The art or process of following; specif., in some games, as billiards, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it. Also used adjectively; as, follow shot.

Fond (n.) The broth or juice from braised flesh or fish, usually served as a sauce.

Fondant (n.) A kind of soft sweetmeat made by boiling solutions to the point of crystallization, usually molded; as, cherry fondant.

Fondu (a.) Blending; passing into each other by subtle gradations; -- said of colors or of the surface or material on which the colors are laid.

Foot candle () The amount of illumination produced by a standard candle at a distance of one foot.

Foot ton () A unit of energy or work, being equal to the work done in raising one ton against the force of gravity through the height of one foot.

Foot valve () A suction valve or check valve at the lower end of a pipe; esp., such a valve in a steam-engine condenser opening to the air pump.

Foozle (v. t. & i.) To bungle; to manage awkwardly; to treat or play unskillfully; as, to foozle a stroke in golf.

Forcite (n.) A gelatin dynamite in which the dope is composed largely of sodium nitrate.

Form (v. t.) To treat (plates) so as to bring them to fit condition for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead, and the other of lead peroxide. This was formerly done by repeated slow alternations of the charging current, but now the plates or grids are coated or filled, one with a paste of red lead and the other with litharge, introduced into the cell, and formed by a direct charging current.

Formalin (n.) An aqueous solution of formaldehyde, used as a preservative in museums and as a disinfectant.

Formicate (v. i.) To creep or crawl like ants; swarm with, or as with, ants.

Forty-niner (n.) One of those who went to California in the rush for gold in 1849; an argonaut.

Fossick (v. i.) To search for gold by picking at stone or earth or among roots in isolated spots, picking over abandoned workings, etc.; hence, to steal gold or auriferous matter from another's claim.

Foul (n.) In various games or sports, an act done contrary to the rules; a foul stroke, hit, play, or the like.

Fourchette (n.) The combination of the card immediately above and the one immediately below a given card.

Four-cycle (n.) A four-stroke cycle, as the Otto cycle, for an internal-combustion engine.

Foursome (n.) A game between four players, with two on each side and each side playing but one ball, the partners striking alternately. It is called a mixed foursome when each side consists of a man and a woman.

Frame (n.) In games: (a) In pool, the triangular form used in setting up the balls; also, the balls as set up, or the round of playing required to pocket them all; as, to play six frames in a game of 50 points. (b) In bowling, as in tenpins, one of the several innings forming a game.

Frame-up (n.) A conspiracy or plot, esp. for a malicious or evil purpose, as to incriminate a person on false evidence.

Franc-tireur (n.) A French partisan soldier, or one belonging to a corps of detached light troops engaged in forays, skirmishes, scouting, etc.

Frappe (n.) A frappe mixture or beverage, as a water ice, variously flavored, frozen soft, and served in glasses.

Frazzle (v. t.) To fray; to wear or pull into tatters or tag ends; to tatter; -- used literally and figuratively.

Frazzle (n.) The act or result of frazzling; the condition or quality of being frazzled; the tag end; a frayed-out end.

Frau (n.) In Germany, a woman; a married woman; a wife; -- as a title, equivalent to Mrs., Madam.

Fraulein (n.sing. & pl.) In Germany, a young lady; an unmarried woman; -- as a title, equivalent to Miss.

Free coinage () In the fullest sense, the conversion of bullion (of any specified metal) into legal-tender coins for any person who chooses to bring it to the mint; in a modified sense, such coinage when done at a fixed charge proportionate to the cost of the operation.

Free silver () The free coinage of silver; often, specif., the free coinage of silver at a fixed ratio with gold, as at the ratio of 16 to 1, which ratio for some time represented nearly or exactly the ratio of the market values of gold and silver respectively.

Freewheel (n.) A clutch fitted in the rear hub of a cycle, which engages the rear sprocket with the rear wheel when the pedals are rotated forwards, but permits the rear wheel to run on free from the rear sprocket when the pedals are stopped or rotated backwards. Freewheelcycles are usually fitted with hub brakes or rim brakes, operated by back pedaling.

Freewheel (v. i.) Of a freewheel cycle, to run on while the pedals are held still.

Freewheel (v. i.) Of a person, to ride a cycle of this manner. To ride a freewheel cycle.

Freewheel (v. i.) To operate like a freewheel, so that one part moves freely over another which normally moves with it; -- said of a clutch.

Fremitus (n., sing. & pl.) Palpable vibration or thrill; as, the rhonchial fremitus.

Friendly (n.) A friendly person; -- usually applied to natives friendly to foreign settlers or invaders.

Frejol () In Mexico, the southwestern United States, and the West Indies, any cultivated bean of the genus Phaseolus, esp. the black seed of a variety of P. vulgaris.

Frejol () The beanlike seed of any of several related plants, as the cowpea. Frijoles are an important article of diet among Spanish-American peoples, being used as an ingredient of many dishes.

Fringe tree () A small oleaceous tree (Chionanthus virginica), of the southern United States, having clusters of white flowers with slender petals. It is often cultivated.

Fritfly (n.) A small dipterous fly of the genus Oscinis, esp. O. vastator, injurious to grain in Europe, and O. Trifole, injurious to clover in America.

Frizz (v. t. & i.) To fry, cook, or sear with a sizzling noise; to sizzle.

Frizzle (v. t. & i.) To fry, toast, or broil with a sputtering sound to cook with a sizzling noise. Also fig.

Frizzle (v. t. & i.) To cook, in certain way, so as to curl or crinkle up.

Froebelian (a.) Pertaining to, or derived from, Friedrich Froebel, or the kindergarten system of education, which he organized.

Froebelian (n.) One who teaches by, or advocates the use of, the kindergarten system.

Frog-eyed (a.) Spotted with whitish specks due to a disease, or produced artificially by spraying; -- said of tobacco used for cigar wrappers.

Front (n.) All the works along one side of the polygon inclosing the site which is fortified.

Front (n.) The middle of the upper part of the tongue, -- the part of the tongue which is more or less raised toward the palate in the pronunciation of certain sounds, as the vowel i in machine, e in bed, and consonant y in you. See Guide to Pronunciation, /10.

Front (n.) The call boy whose turn it is to answer the call, which is often the word "front," used as an exclamation.

Frostbow (n.) A white arc or circle in the sky attending frosty weather and formed by reflection of sunlight from ice crystals floating in the air; the parhelic circle whose center is at the zenith.

Frost signal () A signal consisting of a white flag with a black center, used by the United States Weather Bureau to indicate that a local frost is expected. It is used only in Florida and along the coasts of the Pacific and the Gulf Mexico.

Fu (n.) A department in China comprising several hsein; also, the chief city of a department; -- often forming the last part of a name; as, Paoting-fu.

Fudge (n.) A kind of soft candy composed of sugar or maple sugar, milk, and butter, and often chocolate or nuts, boiled and stirred to a proper consistency.

Full house () A hand containing three of a kind and a pair, as three kings and two tens. It ranks above a flush and below four of a kind.

Fumatorium (n.) An air-tight compartment in which vapor may be generated to destroy germs or insects; esp., the apparatus used to destroy San Jose scale on nursery stock, with hydrocyanic acid vapor.

Fume (n.) Solid material deposited by condensation of fumes; as, lead fume (a grayish powder chiefly lead sulphate).

Fumed oak () Oak given a weathered appearance by exposure in an air-tight compartment to fumes of ammonia from uncorked cans, being first given a coat of filler.

Fumet (n.) A high-flavored substance, such as extract of game, for flavoring dishes of food; less properly, a ragout of partridge and rabbit braised in wine.

Function (n.) A religious ceremony, esp. one particularly impressive and elaborate.

Function (n.) A public or social ceremony or gathering; a festivity or entertainment, esp. one somewhat formal.

Fungi (n. pl.) A group of thallophytic plants of low organization, destitute of chlorophyll, in which reproduction is mainly accomplished by means of asexual spores, which are produced in a great variety of ways, though sexual reproduction is known to occur in certain Phycomycetes, or so-called algal fungi.

Fungi Imperfecti (pl.) A heterogenous group of fungi of which the complete life history is not known. Some undoubtedly represent the conidium stages of various Ascomycetes. The group is divided into the orders Sphaeropsidales, Melanconiales, and Moniliales.

Funk (v. t.) To funk at; to flinch at; to shrink from (a thing or person); as, to funk a task.

Fuze (n.) A wire, bar, or strip of fusible metal inserted for safety in an electric circuit. When the current increases beyond a certain safe strength, the metal melts, interrupting the circuit and thereby preventing possibility of damage.

Fusee (n.) A signal used principally for the protection of trains, consisting of a tube filled with a composition which burns with a bright colored light for a definite time.

Fusee (n.) A friction match for smokers' use having a bulbous head which when ignited is not easily blown out even in a gale of wind.

Fusee (n.) A kind of match made of paper impregnated with niter and having the usual igniting tip.

Fuselage (n.) An elongated body or frame of an aeroplane or flying machine; sometimes, erroneously, any kind of frame or body. Many aeroplanes have no fuselage, properly so called.

Fuze, plug () A fusible plug that screws into a receptacle, used as a fuse in electric wiring.

Futhork (n.) The Runic alphabet; -- so called from the six letters f, u, / (th), o (or a), r, c (=k).

futz (v. i.) fool around; to act without plan or purpose; -- usually used with around; as, to futz around with a device without understanding its operation.

Gadhelic (a.) Of, belonging to, or designating, that division of the Celtic languages which includes the Irish, Gaelic, and Manx.

Gadolinia (n.) A rare earth associated with yttria and regarded as the oxide (Gd2O3) of a metallic element, Gad`o*lin"i*um (/), with an assigned atomic weight of 153.3.

Gaekwar (n.) The title of the ruling Prince of Baroda, in Gujarat, in Bombay, India.

Gag law () A law or ruling prohibiting proper or free debate, as in closure.

Gainsborough hat () A woman's broad-brimmed hat of a form thought to resemble those shown in portraits by Thomas Gainsborough, the English artist (1727-88).

Galatea (n.) A kind of striped cotton fabric, usually of superior quality and striped with blue or red on white.

Galbe (n.) The general outward form of any solid object, as of a column or a vase.

Gallium (n.) A rare metallic element, found combined in certain zinc ores. It is white, hard, and malleable, resembling aluminium, and remarkable for its low melting point (86¡ F., 30¡ C.). Symbol, Ga; at. wt., 69.9. Gallium is chiefly trivalent, resembling aluminium and indium. It was predicted with most of its properties, under the name eka-aluminium, by Mendelyeev on the basis of the periodic law. This prediction was verified in its discovery (in 1875) by its characteristic spectrum (two violet lines).

Gallize (v. t.) In wine making, to add water and sugar to (unfermented grape juice) so as to increase the quantity of wine produced.

Galosh (n.) A strip of material, as leather, running around a shoe at and above the sole, as for protection or ornament.

Gam (n.) A visit between whalers at sea; a holding of social intercourse between those on different vessels at sea, or (Local U. S.) between persons ashore.

Gam (v. i.) To engage in a gam, or (Local, U. S.) in social intercourse anywhere.

Gam (v. t.) To have a gam with; to pay a visit to, esp. among whalers at sea.

Gamble (n.) An act of gambling; a transaction or proceeding involving gambling; hence, anything involving similar risk or uncertainty.

Gamete (n.) A sexual cell or germ cell; a conjugating cell which unites with another of like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot., gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and egg (female); their union is called fertilization, and the resulting zygote an oospore. In Zool., gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of higher forms.

Gametophyte (n.) In the alternation of generations in plants, that generation or phase which bears sex organs. In the lower plants, as the algae, the gametophyte is the conspicuous part of the plant body; in mosses it is the so-called moss plant; in ferns it is reduced to a small, early perishing body; and in seed plants it is usually microscopic or rudimentary.

Gamma rays () Very penetrating rays not appreciably deflected by a magnetic or electric field, emitted by radioactive substances. The prevailing view is that they are non-periodic ether pulses differing from Rontgen rays only in being more penetrating.

Gamp (n.) A large umbrella; -- said to allude to Mrs. Gamp's umbrella, in Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit."

Ganancial (a.) Designating, pertaining to, or held under, the Spanish system of law (called ganancial system) which controls the title and disposition of the property acquired during marriage by the husband or wife.

Gange (v. t.) To protect (the part of a line next a fishhook, or the hook itself) by winding it with wire.

Gange (v. t.) To attach (a fishhook) to a line or snell, as by knotting the line around the shank of the hook.

Ganz system () A haulage system for canal boats, in which an electric locomotive running on a monorail has its adhesion materially increased by the pull of the tow rope on a series of inclined gripping wheels.

Gap (n.) The vertical distance between two superposed surfaces, esp. in a biplane.

Garage (n.) A side way or space in a canal to enable vessels to pass each other; a siding.

Garcon (n.) A boy; fellow; esp., a serving boy or man; a waiter; -- in Eng. chiefly applied to French waiters.

Gas (v. t.) To singe, as in a gas flame, so as to remove loose fibers; as, to gas thread.

Gas (v. t.) To impregnate with gas; as, to gas lime with chlorine in the manufacture of bleaching powder.

Gas engine () A kind of internal-combustion engine (which see) using fixed gas; also, broadly, any internal-combustion engine.

Gasolene, engine () A kind of internal-combustion engine; -- in British countries called usually petrol engine.

Gaucho (n.) A member of an Indian population, somewhat affected by Spanish blood, in the archipelagoes off the Chilean coast.

Gauss (n.) The C.G.S. unit of density of magnetic field, equal to a field of one line of force per square centimeter, being thus adopted as an international unit at Paris in 1900; sometimes used as a unit of intensity of magnetic field. It was previously suggested as a unit of magnetomotive force.

Gaussage (n.) The intensity of a magnetic field expressed in C.G.S. units, or gausses.

Gavage (n.) Forced feeding (as of poultry or infants) by means of a tube passed through the mouth down to the stomach.

Gayley process () The process of removing moisture from the blast of an iron blast furnace by reducing its temperature so far that it will not remain suspended as vapor in the blast current, but will be deposited as snow in the cooling apparatus. The resultant uniformly dehydrated blast effects great economy in fuel consumption, and promotes regularity of furnace operation, and certainty of furnace control.

Generator (n.) Any machine that transforms mechanical into electrical energy; a dynamo.

Genip tree () The West Indian sapindaceous tree Melicocca bijuga, which yields the honeyberry; also, the related trees Exothea paniculata and E. trifoliata.

Genoa cake () A rich glazed cake, with almonds, pistachios, filberts, or other nuts; also, a rich currant cake with almonds on the top.

Gentlemen's agreement () An agreement binding only as a matter of honor; often, specif., such an agreement among the heads of industrial or merchantile enterprises, the terms of which could not be included and enforced in a legal contract.

Geocentrical (a.) Having, considering, or based on, the earth as center; as, the geocentric theory of the universe.

Geochemistry (n.) The study of the chemical composition of, and of actual or possible chemical changes in, the crust of the earth.

Georgian architecture () British or British colonial architecture of the period of the four Georges, especially that of the period before 1800.

Germ (n.) The germ cells, collectively, as distinguished from the somatic cells, or soma. Germ is often used in place of germinal to form phrases; as, germ area, germ disc, germ membrane, germ nucleus, germ sac, etc.

Germ cell () A cell, of either sex, directly concerned in the production of a new organism.

Germinal (a.) Of or pertaining to the germ, or germ cells, as distinguished from the somatic cells.

Germ theory () The theory that living organisms can be produced only by the development of living germs. Cf. Biogenesis, Abiogenesis.

Germ theory () The theory which attributes contagious and infectious diseases, suppurative lesions, etc., to the agency of germs. The science of bacteriology was developed after this theory had been established.

Gesso (n.) Plaster of Paris, or gypsum, esp. as prepared for use in painting, or in making bas-reliefs and the like; by extension, a plasterlike or pasty material spread upon a surface to fit it for painting or gilding, or a surface so prepared.

Gesso duro () A variety of gesso which when dried becomes hard and durable, often used in making bas-relief casts, which are colored and mounted in elaborate frames.

Geusdism (n.) The Marxian socialism and programme of reform through revolution as advocated by the French political leader Jules Basile Guesde (pron. g/d) (1845- ).

Ghazel (n.) A kind of Oriental lyric, and usually erotic, poetry, written in recurring rhymes.

Ghazi (n.) Among Mohammedans, a warrior champion or veteran, esp. in the destruction of infidels.

Ghost dance () A religious dance of the North American Indians, participated in by both sexes, and looked upon as a rite of invocation the purpose of which is, through trance and vision, to bring the dancer into communion with the unseen world and the spirits of departed friends. The dance is the chief rite of the Ghost-dance, or Messiah, religion, which originated about 1890 in the doctrines of the Piute Wovoka, the Indian Messiah, who taught that the time was drawing near when the whole Indian race, the dead with the living, should be reunited to live a life of millennial happiness upon a regenerated earth. The religion inculcates peace, righteousness, and work, and holds that in good time, without warlike intervention, the oppressive white rule will be removed by the higher powers. The religion spread through a majority of the western tribes of the United States, only in the case of the Sioux, owing to local causes, leading to an outbreak.

Gibaro (n.) The offspring of a Spaniard and an Indian; a Spanish-Indian mestizo.

Gibraltar (n.) A strongly fortified town on the south coast of Spain, held by the British since 1704; hence, an impregnable stronghold.

Gibraltar (n.) A kind of candy sweetmeat, or a piece of it; -- called, in full, Gibraltar rock.

Gigue (n.) A piece of lively dance music, in two strains which are repeated; also, the dance.

Glace (a.) Coated with icing; iced; glazed; -- said of fruits, sweetmeats, cake, etc.

Gleba (n.) The chambered sporogenous tissue forming the central mass of the sporophore in puff balls, stinkhorns, etc.

Glee club () A club or company organized for singing glees, and (by extension) part songs, ballads, etc.

Glengarry bonnet () A kind of Highland Scotch cap for men, with straight sides and a hollow top sloping to the back, where it is parted and held together by ribbons or strings.

Glide (n.) Movement of a glider, aeroplane, etc., through the air under gravity or its own movement.

Glide (v. i.) To move through the air by virtue of gravity or momentum; to volplane.

Gliding angle () The angle, esp. the least angle, at which a gliding machine or aeroplane will glide to earth by virtue of gravity without applied power.

Gliding machine () A construction consisting essentially of one or more aeroplanes for gliding in an inclined path from a height to the ground.

Glockenspiel (n.) An instrument, originally a series of bells on an iron rod, now a set of flat metal bars, diatonically tuned, giving a bell-like tone when played with a mallet; a carillon.

Glycose (n.) One of a class of carbohydrates having from three to nine atoms of carbon in the molecules and having the constitution either of an aldehyde alcohol or of a ketone alcohol. Most glycoses have hydrogen and oxygen present in the proportion to form water, while the number of carbon atoms is usually equal to the number of atoms of oxygen.

Glycosometer (n.) An apparatus for determining the amount of sugar in diabetic urine.

Glyph (n.) A carved figure or character, incised or in relief; a carved pictograph; hence, a pictograph representing a form originally adopted for sculpture, whether carved or painted.

Go (n.) Something that goes or is successful; a success; as, he made a go of it; also, an agreement.

Gobang (n.) A Japanese game, played on a checkerboard, in which the object of the game is to be the first in placing five pieces, or men, in a row in any direction.

Go-devil (n.) A weight which is dropped into a bore, as of an oil well, to explode a cartridge previously lowered.

Go-devil (n.) A device, as a loosely fitted plug, which is driven through a pipe by the pressure of the contents behind the plug to clear away obstructions.

Go-devil (n.) A rough sled or dray used for dragging logs, hauling stone, etc.

Going (p. pr.) That goes; in existence; available for present use or enjoyment; current; obtainable; also, moving; working; in operation; departing; as, he is of the brightest men going; going prices or rate.

Going (p. pr.) Carrying on its ordinary business; conducting business, or carried on, with an indefinite prospect of continuance; -- chiefly used in the phrases a going business, concern, etc.

Going (p. pr.) Of or pert. to a going business or concern; as, the going value of a company.

Golden State () California; -- a nickname alluding to its rich gold deposits.

Gongorism (n.) An affected elegance or euphuism of style, for which the Spanish poet Gongora y Argote (1561-1627), among others of his time, was noted.

Goody (a.) Weakly or sentimentally good; affectedly good; -- often in the reduplicated form goody-goody.

Goose egg () In games, a zero; a score or record of naught; -- so named in allusion to the egglike outline of the zero sign 0. Called also duck egg.

Goose-rumped (a.) Having the tail set low and buttocks that fall away sharply from the croup; -- said of certain horses.

Gopher State () Minnesota; -- a nickname alluding to the abundance of gophers.

Gorge (n.) A primitive device used instead of a fishhook, consisting of an object easy to be swallowed but difficult to be ejected or loosened, as a piece of bone or stone pointed at each end and attached in the middle to a line.

Gorgonzola (n.) A kind of Italian pressed milk cheese; -- so called from a village near Milan.

Graffito (n.) Production of decorative designs by scratching them through a surface of layer plaster, glazing, etc., revealing a different-colored ground; also, pottery or ware so decorated; -- chiefly used attributively.

Graft (n.) Acquisition of money, position, etc., by dishonest or unjust means, as by actual theft or by taking advantage of a public office or any position of trust or employment to obtain fees, perquisites, profits on contracts, legislation, pay for work not done or service not performed, etc.; illegal or unfair practice for profit or personal advantage; also, anything thus gained.

Graftage (n.) The science of grafting, including the various methods of practice and details of operation.

Gramophone (n.) An instrument for recording, preserving, and reproducing sounds, the record being a tracing of a phonautograph etched in some solid material. Reproduction is accomplished by means of a system attached to an elastic diaphragm.

Granger roads () Certain railroads whose traffic largely consists in carrying the produce of farmers or grangers; -- specifically applied to the Chicago & Alton; Chicago, Burlington & Quincey; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; and Chicago & Northwestern, railroads.

Granite State () New Hampshire; -- a nickname alluding to its mountains, which are chiefly of granite.

Graph (n.) A curve or surface, the locus of a point whose coordinates are the variables in the equation of the locus.

Graph (n.) A diagram symbolizing a system of interrelations by spots, all distinguishable from one another and some connected by lines of the same kind.

Graphoscope (n.) An optical device for showing (or photographing) an image when projected upon the atmosphere as a screen.

Gratin (n.) The brown crust formed upon a gratinated dish; also, dish itself, as crusts bread, game, or poultry.

Gratinate (v. t.) To cook, as macaroni, in a savory juice or sauce until juice is absorbed and a crisp surface forms.

Grating (n.) A system of close equidistant parallel lines or bars, esp. lines ruled on a polished surface, used for producing spectra by diffraction. Gratings have been made with over 40,000 such lines to the inch, but those with a somewhat smaller number give the best definition.

Great White Way () Broadway, in New York City, in the neighborhood chiefly occupied by theaters, as from about 30th Street about 50th Street; -- so called from its brilliant illumination at night.

Greek calendar () Any of various calendars used by the ancient Greek states.

Grid (n.) A plate or sheet of lead with perforations, or other irregularities of surface, by which the active material of a secondary battery or accumulator is supported.

Griffon (n.) One of a European breed of rough-coated dogs, somewhat taller than the setter and of a grizzly liver color. They are used in hunt game birds. The Brussels griffon is a very small, wiry-coated, short-nosed pet dog of Belgian origin.

Grill (n.) A figure of crossed bars with interstices, such as those sometimes impressed upon postage stamps.

Grill (v. i.) To undergo the process of being grilled, or broiled; to broil.

Grillroom (n.) A room specially fitted for broiling food, esp. one in a restaurant, hotel, or club/house, arranged for prompt service.

Gringo (n.) Among Spanish Americans, a foreigner, esp. an Englishman or American; -- often used as a term of reproach.

Grip (n.) Specif., an apparatus attached to a car for clutching a traction cable.

Grolier (n.) The name by which Jean Grolier de Servier (1479-1565), a French bibliophile, is commonly known; -- used in naming a certain style of binding, a design, etc.

Guaiacol (n.) A colorless liquid, C7H8O2, with a peculiar odor. It is the methyl ether of pyrocatechin, and is obtained by distilling guaiacum from wood-tar creosote, and in other ways. It has been used in treating pulmonary tuberculosis.

Guest (n.) Any insect that lives in the nest of another without compulsion and usually not as a parasite.

Guide rope () A rope hung from a balloon or dirigible so as trail along the ground for about half its length, used to preserve altitude automatically, by variation of the length dragging on the ground, without loss of ballast or gas.

Guilloche (n.) In ornamental art, any pattern made by interlacing curved lines.

Guinea-pig director () A director (usually one holding a number of directorships) who serves merely or mainly for the fee (in England, often a guinea) paid for attendance.

Gipsy, moth () A tussock moth (Ocneria dispar) native of the Old World, but accidentally introduced into eastern Massachusetts about 1869, where its caterpillars have done great damage to fruit, shade, and forest trees of many kinds. The male gypsy moth is yellowish brown, the female white, and larger than the male. In both sexes the wings are marked by dark lines and a dark lunule. The caterpillars, when full-grown, have a grayish mottled appearance, with blue tubercles on the anterior and red tubercles on the posterior part of the body, all giving rise to long yellow and black hairs. They usually pupate in July and the moth appears in August. The eggs are laid on tree trunks, rocks, etc., and hatch in the spring.

Hack (v. i.) To ride or drive as one does with a hack horse; to ride at an ordinary pace, or over the roads, as distinguished from riding across country or in military fashion.

Haematolysis (n.) Dissolution of the red blood corpuscles with diminished coagulability of the blood; haemolysis.

Haemol (n.) A dark brown powder containing iron, prepared by the action of zinc dust as a reducing agent upon the coloring matter of the blood, used medicinally as a hematinic.

Hague Tribunal () The permanent court of arbitration created by the "International Convention for the Pacific Settle of International Disputes.", adopted by the International Peace Conference of 1899. It is composed of persons of known competency in questions of international law, nominated by the signatory powers. From these persons an arbitration tribunal is chosen by the parties to a difference submitted to the court. On the failure of the parties to agree directly on the arbitrators, each chooses two arbitrators, an umpire is selected by them, by a third power, or by two powers selected by the parties.

Haikwan tael () A Chinese weight (/ catty) equivalent to 1/ oz. or 37.801 g.

Half nelson () A hold in which one arm is thrust under the corresponding arm of the opponent, generally behind, and the hand placed upon the back of his neck. In the full nelson both hands are so placed.

Half-tone (n.) An intermediate or middle tone in a painting, engraving, photograph, etc.; a middle tint, neither very dark nor very light.

Half-tone (a.) pertaining to or designating plates, processes, or the pictures made by them, in which gradation of tone in the photograph is reproduced by a graduated system of dotted and checkered spots, usually nearly invisible to the unaided eye, produced by the interposition between the camera and the object of a screen. The name alludes to the fact that this process was the first that was practically successful in reproducing the half tones of the photograph.

Hallstattian (a.) Of or pert. to Hallstatt, Austria, or the Hallstatt civilization.

Halma (n.) A game played on a board having 256 squares, by two persons with 19 men each, or by four with 13 men each, starting from different corners and striving to place each his own set of men in a corresponding position in the opposite corner by moving them or by jumping them over those met in progress.

Halve (v. t.) Of a hole, match, etc., to reach or play in the same number of strokes as an opponent.

Hamal (n.) In Turkey and other Oriental countries, a porter or burden bearer; specif., in Western India, a palanquin bearer.

Hammer (n.) A spherical weight attached to a flexible handle and hurled from a mark or ring. The weight of head and handle is usually not less than 16 pounds.

Hammer break () An interrupter in which contact is broken by the movement of an automatically vibrating hammer between a contact piece and an electromagnet, or of a rapidly moving piece mechanically driven.

Hammer lock () A hold in which an arm of one contestant is held twisted and bent behind his back by his opponent.

Hand (n.) A gambling game played by American Indians, consisting of guessing the whereabouts of bits of ivory or the like, which are passed rapidly from hand to hand.

Handball (n.) A game played with such a ball, as by players striking it to and fro between them with the hands, or alternately against a wall, until one side or the other fails to return the ball.

Hang (v. i.) Of a ball: To rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly, due to backward spin on the ball or imperfections of ground.

Hang (v. t.) To prevent from reaching a decision, esp. by refusing to join in a verdict that must be unanimous; as, one obstinate juror can hang a jury.

Hank (n.) A throw in which a wrestler turns his left side to his opponent, twines his left leg about his opponent's right leg from the inside, and throws him backward.

Hanukkah (n.) The Jewish Feast of the Dedication, instituted by Judas Maccabaeus, his brothers, and the whole congregation of Israel, in 165 b. c., to commemorate the dedication of the new altar set up at the purification of the temple of Jerusalem to replace the altar which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Maccabees i. 58, iv. 59). The feast, which is mentioned in John x. 22, is held for eight days (beginning with the 25th day of Kislev, corresponding to December), and is celebrated everywhere, chiefly as a festival of lights, by the Jews.

Haphtarah (n.) One of the lessons from the Nebiim (or Prophets) read in the Jewish synagogue on Sabbaths, feast days, fasts, and the ninth of Ab, at the end of the service, after the parashoth, or lessons from the Law. Such a practice is evidenced in Luke iv.17 and Acts xiii.15.

Hard steel () Steel hardened by the addition of other elements, as manganese, phosphorus, or (usually) carbon.

Harvey process () A process of hardening the face of steel, as armor plates, invented by Hayward A. Harvey of New Jersey, consisting in the additional carburizing of the face of a piece of low carbon steel by subjecting it to the action of carbon under long-continued pressure at a very high heat, and then to a violent chilling, as by a spray of cold water. This process gives an armor plate a thick surface of extreme hardness supported by material gradually decreasing in hardness to the unaltered soft steel at the back.

Haulabout (n.) A bargelike vessel with steel hull, large hatchways, and coal transporters, for coaling war vessels from its own hold or from other colliers.

Hazard (n.) Any place into which the ball may not be safely played, such as bunkers, furze, water, sand, or other kind of bad ground.

Headwater (n.) The source and upper part of a stream; -- commonly used in the plural; as, the headwaters of the Missouri.

Heckerism (n.) The teaching of Isaac Thomas Hecker (1819-88), which interprets Catholicism as promoting human aspirations after liberty and truth, and as the religion best suited to the character and institutions of the American people.

Heckerism (n.) Improperly, certain views or principles erroneously ascribed to Father Hecker in a French translation of Elliott's Life of Hecker. They were condemned as "Americanism" by the Pope, in a letter to Cardinal Gibbons, January 22, 1899.

Heckle (v. t.) To interrogate, or ply with questions, esp. with severity or antagonism, as a candidate for the ministry.

Hedgehog (n.) A variety of transformer with open magnetic circuit, the ends of the iron wire core being turned outward and presenting a bristling appearance, whence the name.

Heel (v. t.) To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot advanced, the heel on the ground and the toe up.

Heelpath (n.) The bank of a canal opposite, and corresponding to, that of the towpath; berm.

Heemraad (n.) In Holland, and, until the 19th century, also in Cape Colony, a council to assist a local magistrate in the government of rural districts; hence, also, a member of such a council.

Heft (n.) A number of sheets of paper fastened together, as for a notebook; also, a part of a serial publication.

Heliography (n.) The system, art, or practice of telegraphing, or signaling, with the heliograph.

Heliography (n.) An early photographic process invented by Nicephore Niepce, and still used in photo-engraving. It consists essentially in exposing under a design or in a camera a polished metal plate coated with a preparation of asphalt, and subsequently treating the plate with a suitable solvent. The light renders insoluble those parts of the film which is strikes, and so a permanent image is formed, which can be etched upon the plate by the use of acid.

Helium (n.) An inert, monoatomic, gaseous element occurring in the atmosphere of the sun and stars, and in small quantities in the earth's atmosphere, in several minerals and in certain mineral waters. Symbol, He; at. wt., 4. Helium was first detected spectroscopically in the sun by Lockyer in 1868; it was first prepared by Ramsay in 1895. Helium has a density of 1.98 compared with hydrogen, and is more difficult to liquefy than the latter. Chemically, it belongs to the argon group and cannot be made to form compounds. It is a decomposition product of the radium emanation.

Hematinic (n.) Any substance, such as an iron salt or organic compound containing iron, which when ingested tends to increase the hemoglobin contents of the blood.

Heppelwhite (a.) Designating a light and elegant style developed in England under George III., chiefly by Messrs. A.Heppelwhite & Co.

Hermit (n.) A spiced molasses cooky, often containing chopped raisins and nuts.

Herzog (n.) A member of the highest rank of nobility in Germany and Austria, corresponding to the British duke.

Heteroecious (a.) Passing through the different stages in its life history on an alternation of hosts, as the common wheat-rust fungus (Puccinia graminis), and certain other parasitic fungi; -- contrasted with autoecious.

Hexagram (n.) A figure composed of two equal triangles intersecting so that each side of one triangle is parallel to a side of the other, and the six points coincide with those of a hexagon.

Hexagram (n.) In Chinese literature, one of the sixty-four figures formed of six parallel lines (continuous or broken), forming the basis of the Yih King, or "Book of Changes."

Hexose (n.) Any member of a group of sugars containing six carbon atoms in the molecule. Some are widely distributed in nature, esp. in ripe fruits.

Hidrosis (n.) Excessive perspiration; also, any skin disease characterized by abnormal perspiration.

Hidrotic (n.) A medicine that causes perspiration; a diaphoretic or a sudorific.

Higher criticism () Criticism which includes the study of the contents, literary character, date, authorship, etc., of any writing; as, the higher criticism of the Pentateuch. Called also historical criticism.

High steel () Steel containing a high percentage of carbon; high-carbon steel.

Hike (v. i.) To hike one's self; specif., to go with exertion or effort; to tramp; to march laboriously.

Hindu, calendar () A lunisolar calendar of India, according to which the year is divided into twelve months, with an extra month inserted after every month in which two new moons occur (once in three years).

Hinterland (n.) The land or region lying behind the coast district. The term is used esp. with reference to the so-called doctrine of the hinterland, sometimes advanced, that occupation of the coast supports a claim to an exclusive right to occupy, from time to time, the territory lying inland of the coast.

Hype () A throw in which the wrestler lifts his opponent from the ground, swings him to one side, knocks up his nearer thigh from the back with the knee, and throws him on his back.

Hip lock () A lock in which a close grip is obtained and a fall attempted by a heave over the hip.

Hire and purchase agreement () A contract (more fully called contract of hire with an option of purchase) in which a person hires goods for a specified period and at a fixed rent, with the added condition that if he shall retain the goods for the full period and pay all the installments of rent as they become due the contract shall determine and the title vest absolutely in him, and that if he chooses he may at any time during the term surrender the goods and be quit of any liability for future installments upon the contract. In the United States such a contract is generally treated as a conditional sale, and the term hire purchase is also sometimes applied to a contract in which the hirer is not free to avoid future liability by surrender of the goods. In England, however, if the hirer does not have this right the contract is a sale.

Hittite (n.) A member of an ancient people (or perhaps group of peoples) whose settlements extended from Armenia westward into Asia Minor and southward into Palestine. They are known to have been met along the Orontes as early as 1500 b. c., and were often at war with the Egyptians and Assyrians. Especially in the north they developed a considerable civilization, of which numerous monuments and inscriptions are extant. Authorities are not agreed as to their race. While several attempts have been made to decipher the Hittite characters, little progress has yet been made.

Hittorf rays () Rays (chiefly cathode rays) developed by the electric discharge in Hittorf tubes.

Hittorf tube () A highly exhausted glass tube with metallic electrodes nearly in contact so as to exhibit the insulating effects of a vacuum. It was used by the German physicist W. Hittorf (b. 1824).

Hob (n.) A peg, pin, or mark used as a target in some games, as an iron pin in quoits; also, a game in which such a target is used.

Hobble skirt () A woman's skirt so scant at the bottom as to restrain freedom of movement after the fashion of a hobble.

Hobo (n.) A professional tramp; one who spends his life traveling from place to place, esp. by stealing rides on trains, and begging for a living.

Holarctic (a.) designating a realm or region including the northern parts of the Old and the New World. It comprises the Palearctic and Nearctic regions or subregions.

Hole (n.) A small cavity used in some games, usually one into which a marble or ball is to be played or driven; hence, a score made by playing a marble or ball into such a hole, as in golf.

Hole (n.) At Eton College, England, that part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.

Hollandaise (n.) A sauce consisting essentially of a seasoned emulsion of butter and yolk of eggs with a little lemon juice or vinegar.

Holluschickie (n. sing. & pl.) A young male fur seal, esp. one from three to six years old; -- called also bachelor, because prevented from breeding by the older full-grown males.

Holstein (n.) One of a breed of cattle, originally from Schleswig-Holstein, valued for the large amount of milk produced by the cows. The color is usually black and white in irregular patches.

Home (n.) The place of a player in front of an opponent's goal; also, the player.

Honeyberry (n.) The fruit of either of two trees having sweetish berries: (a) An Old World hackberry (Celtis australis). (b) In the West Indies, the genip (Melicocca bijuga).

Hoodoo (v. t.) To be a hoodoo to; to bring bad luck to by occult influence; to bewitch.

Hook (n.) A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end; as, Sandy Hook.

Hooky (v. t.) A word used only in the expression to play hooky, to run away, to play truant.

Hopperdozer (n.) An appliance for the destruction of insects, consisting of a shallow iron box, containing kerosene or coated with tar or other sticky substance, which may be mounted on wheels.

Hormone (n.) A chemical substance formed in one organ and carried in the circulation to another organ on which it exerts a stimulating effect; thus, according to Starling, the gastric glands are stimulated by a hormone from the pyloric mucous membrane.

Hors d'oeuvre () A dish served as a relish, usually at the beginning of a meal.

Horse (n.) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination; -- called also trot, pony, Dobbin.

Horseless (a.) Being without a horse; specif., not requiring a horse; -- said of certain vehicles in which horse power has been replaced by electricity, steam, etc.; as, a horseless carriage or truck.

Host (n.) Any animal or plant affording lodgment or subsistence to a parasitic or commensal organism. Thus a tree is a host of an air plant growing upon it.

Host plant () A plant which aids, shelters, or protects another plant in its growth, as those which are used for nurse crops.

Hotchkiss gun () A built-up, rifled, rapid-fire gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moves horizontally or vertically in a mortise cut completely through the jacket. It is made in France.

Hot-short (a.) Brittle when heated, esp. beyond a red heat; as, hot-short iron.

Houstonia (n.) A genus of small rubiaceous herbs, having tetramerous salveform blue or white flower. There are about twenty species, natives of North America. Also, a plant of this genus.

Hsien (n.) An administrative subdivision of a fu, or department, or of an independent chow; also, the seat of government of such a district.

Huaracho (n.) A kind of sandal worn by Indians and the lower classes generally; -- usually used in pl.

Hump (v. t.) To form into a hump; to make hump-shaped; to hunch; -- often with up.

Hump (v. t.) To put or carry on the (humped) back; to shoulder; hence, to carry, in general.

Hump (v. t.) To bend or gather together for strenuous effort, as in running; to do or effect by such effort; to exert; -- usually reflexively or with it; as, you must hump yourself.

Humpbacked salmon () A small salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) which ascends the rivers of the Pacific coast from California to Alaska, and also on the Asiatic side. In the breeding season the male has a large dorsal hump and distorted jaws.

Humstrum (n.) An instrument out of tune or rudely constructed; music badly played.

Hunch (n.) A strong, intuitive impression that something will happen; -- said to be from the gambler's superstition that it brings luck to touch the hump of a hunchback.

Hunkers (n. pl.) In the phrase on one's hunkers, in a squatting or crouching position.

Hunt (v. i.) To be in a state of instability of movement or forced oscillation, as a governor which has a large movement of the balls for small change of load, an arc-lamp clutch mechanism which moves rapidly up and down with variations of current, or the like; also, to seesaw, as a pair of alternators working in parallel.

Hunt (v. t.) To move or shift the order of (a bell) in a regular course of changes.

Huttoning (n.) Forcible manipulation of a dislocated, stiff, or painful joint.

Hybrid (n.) A word composed of elements which belong to different languages.

Hydro-aeroplane () An aeroplane with a boatlike or other understructure that enables it to travel on, or to rise from the surface of, a body of water by its own motive power.

Hydrolysis (n.) A chemical process involving the addition of the elements of water.

Hydroplane (n.) A plane, or any of a number of planes, projecting from the hull of a submarine boat, which by being elevated or depressed cause the boat, when going ahead, to sink or rise, after the manner of an aeroplane.

Hydroplane (n.) A projecting plane or fin on a gliding boat to lift the moving boat on top of the water; also, a gliding boat.

Hydropneumatic gun carriage () A disappearing gun carriage in which the recoil is checked by cylinders containing liquid and air, the air when compressed furnishing the power for restoring the gun to the firing position. It is used with some English and European heavy guns.

Hydrosphere (n.) The aqueous envelope of the earth, including the ocean, all lakes, streams, and underground waters, and the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere.

Hydrostat (n.) A device, usually electrical, for indicating or regulating the height of water in a reservoir or receptacle.

Hydrotherapeutics (n.) A system of treating disease by baths and mineral waters.

Hydrotropism (n.) In a broader sense, any curvature or turning induced in certain growing plant organs under the influence of moisture.

Hyetology (n.) The science which treats of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.

Hyksos (n.) A dynasty of Egyptian kings, often called the Shepherd kings, of foreign origin, who, according to the narrative of Manetho, ruled for about 500 years, forming the XVth and XVIth dynasties. It is now considered that the XVIth is merely a double of the XVth dynasty, and that the total period of the six Hyksos kings was little more than 100 years. It is supposed that they were Asiatic Semites.

Hyphenated American () An American who is referred to by a hyphenated term with the first word indicating an origin in a foreign country, and the second term being "American", as Irish-American, Italian-American.

Hypnoscope (n.) An instrument for ascertaining the susceptibility of a person to hypnotic influences.

Ibsenism (n.) The dramatic practice or purpose characteristic of the writings of Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), Norwegian poet and dramatist, whose best-known plays deal with conventional hypocrisies, the story in each play thus developing a definite moral problem.

Ichthyol (n.) An oily substance prepared by the dry distillation of a bituminous mineral containing fossil fishes. It is used in medicine as a remedy in some forms of skin diseases.

Icon (n.) A sacred picture representing the Virgin Mary, Christ, a saint, or a martyr, and having the same function as an image of such a person in the Latin Church.

Iconomania (n.) A mania or infatuation for icons, whether as objects of devotion, bric-a-brac, or curios.

Idealism (n.) The practice or habit of giving or attributing ideal form or character to things; treatment of things in art or literature according to ideal standards or patterns; -- opposed to realism.

Identical (a.) In diplomacy (esp. in the form identic), precisely agreeing in sentiment or opinion and form or manner of expression; -- applied to concerted action or language which is used by two or more governments in treating with another government.

Ido (n.) An artificial international language, selected by the "Delegation for the Adoption of an Auxillary International Language" (founded at Paris in 1901), made public in 1907, and subsequently greatly revised and extended by a permanent committee or "Academy." It combines systematically the advantages of previous schemes with a thoroughly logical word formation, and has neither accented constants nor arbitrarily coined pronominal words. For each idea that root is selected which is already most international, on the principle of the "greatest facility for the greatest number of people." The word "Ido" means in the language itself "offspring." The official name is: "Linguo Internaciona di la Delegitaro (Sistema Ido)."

Idolon (n.) Appearance or image; a phantasm; a spectral image; also, a mental image or idea.

IHVH () A transliteration of the four constants forming the Hebrew tetragrammaton or "incommunicable name" of the Supreme Being, which in latter Jewish tradition is not pronounced save with the vowels of adonai or elohim, so that the true pronunciation is lost.

Immune (n.) One who is immune; esp., a person who is immune from a disease by reason of previous affection with the disease or inoculation.

Immunity (n.) The state of being insusceptible to poison, the contagion of disease, etc.

Impasse (n.) An impassable road or way; a blind alley; cul-de-sac; fig., a position or predicament affording no escape.

Impedance (n.) The apparent resistance in an electric circuit to the flow of an alternating current, analogous to the actual electrical resistance to a direct current, being the ratio of electromotive force to the current. It is equal to R2 + X2, where R = ohmic resistance, X = reactance. For an inductive circuit, X = 2/fL, where f = frequency and L = self-inductance; for a circuit with capacity X = 1 / 2/fC, where C = capacity.

Impedimenta (n. pl.) Things which impede or hinder progress; incumbrances; baggage;

Imperial (n.) A game at cards differing from piquet in some minor details, and in having a trump; also, any one of several combinations of cards which score in this game.

Imperialism (n.) The policy, practice, or advocacy of seeking, or acquiescing in, the extension of the control, dominion, or empire of a nation, as by the acquirement of new, esp. distant, territory or dependencies, or by the closer union of parts more or less independent of each other for operations of war, copyright, internal commerce, etc.

Imperium (n.) The right to command, which includes the right to employ the force of the state to enforce the laws. It is one of the principal attributes of the executive power.

Inauguration Day () The day on which the President of the United States is inaugurated, the 4th of March in every year next after a year divisible by four.

Incroyable (n.) A French fop or dandy of the time of the Directory; hence, any fop.

Incubator (n.) A contrivance for the cultivation of microorganisms by maintaining a suitable temperature.

Independence Day () In the United States, a holiday, the 4th of July, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on that day in 1776.

Index (n.) The ratio, or formula expressing the ratio, of one dimension of a thing to another dimension; as, the vertical index of the cranium.

Individualism (n.) The principle, policy, or practice of maintaining individuality, or independence of the individual, in action; the theory or practice of maintaining the independence of individual initiative, action, and interests, as in industrial organization or in government.

Indo-Aryan (a.) Pert. to the Indo-Aryans, or designating, or of, the Aryan languages of India.

Indo-Aryan (n.) A member of one of the native races of India of Aryan speech and blood, characterized by tall stature, dolichocephaly, fair complexion with dark hair and eyes, plentiful beard, and narrow and prominent nose.

Indo-Chinese (a.) Of or pert. to the Mongoloid races of India, esp. Farther India, or designating, or of, their languages.

Indo-do-Chinese languages () A family of languages, mostly of the isolating type, although some are agglutinative, spoken in the great area extending from northern India in the west to Formosa in the east and from Central Asia in the north to the Malay Peninsula in the south.

Indo-European () A member of one of the Caucasian races of Europe or India speaking an Indo-European language.

Indonesian (n.) A member of a race forming the chief pre-Malay population of the Malay Archipelago, and probably sprung from a mixture of Polynesian and Mongoloid immigrants. According to Keane, the autochthonous Negritos were largely expelled by the Caucasian Polynesians, themselves followed by Mongoloid peoples of Indo-Chinese affinities, from mixture with whom sprang the Indonesian race.

Induced current () A current due to variation in the magnetic field surrounding its conductor.

Induction generator () A machine built as an induction motor and driven above synchronous speed, thus acting as an alternating-current generator; -- called also asynchronous generator. Below synchronism the machine takes in electrical energy and acts as an induction motor; at synchronism the power component of current becomes zero and changes sign, so that above synchronism the machine (driven for thus purpose by mechanical power) gives out electrical energy as a generator.

Induction motor () A type of alternating-current motor comprising two wound members, one stationary, called the stator, and the other rotating, called the rotor, these two members corresponding to a certain extent to the field and armature of a direct-current motor.

Infantile paralysis () An acute disease, almost exclusively infantile, characterized by inflammation of the anterior horns of the gray substance of the spinal cord. It is attended with febrile symptoms, motor paralysis, and muscular atrophy, often producing permanent deformities. Called also acute anterior poliomyelitis.

Infarct (n.) The morbid condition of a limited area resulting from such obstruction; as, a hemorrhagic infarct.

Infectious disease () Any disease caused by the entrance, growth, and multiplication of bacteria or protozoans in the body; a germ disease. It may not be contagious.

Infectious disease () Sometimes, as distinguished from contagious disease, such a disease communicated by germs carried in the air or water, and thus spread without contact with the patient, as measles.

Infra-red (a.) Lying outside the visible spectrum at its red end; -- said of rays less refrangible than the extreme red rays.

Ingenue (n.) An ingenuous or naive girl or young woman, or an actress representing such a person.

Ingot steel () Steel cast in ingots from the Bessemer converter or open-hearth furnace.

Initiative (n.) The right or procedure by which legislation may be introduced or enacted directly by the people, as in the Swiss Confederation and in many of the States of the United States; -- chiefly used with the. The procedure of the initiative is essentially as follows: Upon the filing of a petition signed by a required number or percentage of qualified voters the desired measure must be submitted to a popular vote, and upon receiving the required majority (commonly a majority of those voting on the measure submitted) it becomes a law. In some States of the United States the initiative is only local; in others it is state-wide and includes the making of constitutional amendments.

Inpatient (n.) A patient who receives lodging and food, as well as treatment, in a hospital or an infirmary; -- distinguished from outpatient.

Inro (n.) A small closed receptacle or set of receptacles of hard material, as lacquered wood, iron, bronze, or ivory, used by the Japanese to hold medicines, perfumes, and the like, and carried in the girdle. It is usually secured by a silk cord by which the wearer may grasp it, which cord passes through an ornamental button or knob called a netsuke.

In situ () In its natural or original position or place; in position; -- said specif., in geology, of a rock, soil, or fossil, when in the situation in which it was originally formed or deposited.

Instroke (n.) An inward stroke; specif., in a steam or other engine, a stroke in which the piston is moving away from the crank shaft; -- opposed to outstroke.

Instrumentalism (n.) The view that the sanction of truth is its utility, or that truth is genuine only in so far as it is a valuable instrument.

Insufflate (a.) To blow upon; to breath upon or into; to use insufflation upon.

Inswept (a.) Narrowed at the forward end; -- said of an automobile frame when the side members are closer together at the forward end than at the rear.

Intensive (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, any system of farming or horticulture, usually practiced on small pieces of land, in which the soil is thoroughly worked and fertilized so as to get as much return as possible; -- opposed to extensive.

Intercrop (v. t. & i.) To cultivate by planting simultaneous crops in alternate rows; as, to intercrop an orchard. Also, to use for catch crops at seasons when the ground is not covered by crops of the regular rotation.

Intercrop (n.) A crop grown among or between the rows of another crop; a catch crop.

Interdenominational (a.) Occurring between or among, or common to, different denominations; as, interdenominational fellowship or belief.

Interferometer (n.) An instrument for measuring small movements, distances, or displacements by means of the interference of two beams of light; -- called also refractometer.

Internal-combustion (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, any engine (called an Internal-combustion engine) in which the heat or pressure energy necessary to produce motion is developed in the engine cylinder, as by the explosion of a gas, and not in a separate chamber, as in a steam-engine boiler. The gas used may be a fixed gas, or one derived from alcohol, ether, gasoline (petrol), naphtha, oil (petroleum), etc. There are three main classes: (1) gas engines proper, using fixed gases, as coal, blast-furnace, or producer gas; (2) engines using the vapor of a volatile fluid, as the typical gasoline (petrol) engine; (3) oil engines, using either an atomized spray or the vapor (produced by heat) of a comparatively heavy oil, as petroleum or kerosene. In all of these the gas is mixed with a definite amount of air, the charge is composed in the cylinder and is then exploded either by a flame of gas (flame ignition -- now little used), by a hot tube (tube ignition) or the like, by an electric spark (electric ignition, the usual method is gasoline engines, or by the heat of compression, as in the Diesel engine. Gas and oil engines are chiefly of the stationary type. Gasoline engines are largely used for automobile vehicles, boats, etc. Most internal-combustion engines use the Otto (four-stroke) cycle, though many use the two-stroke cycle. They are almost universally trunk engines and single-acting. Because of the intense heat produced by the frequent explosions, the cylinders must be cooled by a water jacket (water-cooled) or by air currents (air cooled) to give the maximum thermodynamic efficiency and to avoid excessive friction or seizing.

Interurban (a.) Going between, or connecting, cities or towns; as, interurban electric railways.

Intervocalic (a.) Situated between vowels; immediately preceded and followed by vowel sounds, as, p in occupy, d in idea, etc.

Inverness cape () A kind of full sleeveless cape, fitting closely about the neck.

Invertase (n.) An enzyme capable of effecting the inversion of cane suger, producing invert sugar. It is found in many plants and in the intestines of animals.

Invertase (n.) By extension, any enzyme which splits cane sugar, milk sugar, lactose, etc., into monosaccharides.

Iodocresol (n.) Any of several isomeric iodine derivatives of the cresols, C6H3I(CH3)OH, esp. one, an odorless amorphous powder, used in medicine as a substitute for iodoform.

Iodoformogen (n.) A light powder used as a substitute for iodoform. It is a compound of iodoform and albumin.

Iodol (n.) A crystallized substance of the composition C4I4NH, technically tetra-iodo-pyrrol, used like iodoform.

Iodothyrin (n.) A peculiar substance obtained from the thyroid gland, containing from nine to ten per cent of iodine.

Ion (n.) One of the electrified particles into which, according to the electrolytic dissociation theory, the molecules of electrolytes are divided by water and other solvents. An ion consists of one or more atoms and carries a unit charge of electricity, 3.4 x 10-10 electrostatic units, or a multiple of this. Those which are positively electrified (hydrogen and the metals) are called cations; negative ions (hydroxyl and acidic atoms or groups) are called anions.

Ion (n.) One of the small electrified particles into which the molecules of a gas are broken up under the action of the electric current, of ultraviolet and certain other rays, and of high temperatures. To the properties and behavior of ions the phenomena of the electric discharge through rarefied gases and many other important effects are ascribed. At low pressures the negative ions appear to be electrons; the positive ions, atoms minus an electron. At ordinary pressures each ion seems to include also a number of attached molecules. Ions may be formed in a gas in various ways.

Ionize (v. t.) To separate (a compound) into ions, esp. by dissolving in water.

Iris diaphragm () An adjustable diaphragm, suggesting the iris of the eye in its action, for regulating the aperture of a lens, consisting of a number of thin pieces fastened to a ring. It is used in cameras and microscopes.

Irish American () A native of Ireland who has become an American citizen; also, a child or descendant of such a person.

Iron (n.) An iron-headed club with a deep face, chiefly used in making approaches, lifting a ball over hazards, etc.

Iroquoian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, one of the principal linguistic stocks of the North American Indians. The territory of the northern Iroquoian tribes, of whom the Five Nations, or Iroquois proper, were the chief, extended from the shores of the St. Lawrence and of Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Erie south, through eastern Pennsylvania, to Maryland; that of the southern tribes, of whom the Cherokees were chief, formed part of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. All of the tribes were agricultural, and they were noted for large, communal houses, palisaded towns, and ability to organize, as well as for skill in war.

Irreversible steering gear () A steering gear, esp. for an automobile, not affected by the road wheels, as when they strike an obstacle side ways, but easily controlled by the hand wheel or steering lever.

Isobront (n.) An imaginary line, or a line on a chart, marking the simultaneous development of a thunderstorm, as noted by observing the time when the thunder is heard at different places.

Isochor (n.) A line upon a thermodynamic diagram so drawn as to represent the pressures corresponding to changes of temperature when the volume of the gas operated on is constant.

Isochronize (v. t.) To make, or tend to make (the motion of a moving body), uniform in rate of rotation, or in frequency of vibration.

Isodrome (n.) A method of moving a fleet from one formation to another, the direction usually being changed eight points (90¡), by means of paths of equal length for each ship. It is prohibited in the United States navy.

Isomorph (n.) An animal, plant, or group having superficial similarity to another, although phylogenetically different.

Isostasy (n.) general equilibrium in the earth's crust, supposed to be maintained by the yielding or flow of rock material beneath the surface under gravitative stress. By the theory of isostasy each unit column of the earth, from surface to center, has approximately the same weight, and the continents stand higher than the ocean beds chiefly because the material of the crust has there less density.

Isostatic (a.) Subjected to equal pressure from every side; being in hydrostatic equilibrium, as a body submerged in a liquid at rest; pertaining to, or characterized by, isostasy.

I. W. W. () Industrial Workers of the World (the name of two American labor organizations, one of which advocates syndicalism)

Ixtil (n.) The fine, soft fiber of the bromeliaceous plant Bromelia sylvestris.

Jacal (n.) In Mexico and the south western United States, a kind of plastered house or hut, usually made by planting poles or timber in the geound, filling in between them with screen work or wickerwork, and daubing one or both sides with mud or adobe mortar; also, this method of construction.

Jackeroo () A young man living as an apprentice on a sheep station, or otherwise engaged in acquainting himself with colonial life.

Jag (n.) Enough liquor to make a man noticeably drunk; a small "load;" a time or case of drunkeness; -- esp. in phr. To have a jag on, to be drunk.

Juggernaut () A particular form of Vishnu, or of Krishna, whose chief idol and worship are at Puri, in Orissa. The idol is considered to contain the bones of Krishna and to possess a soul. The principal festivals are the Snanayatra, when the idol is bathed, and the Rathayatra, when the image is drawn upon a car adorned with obscene paintings. Formerly it was erroneously supposed that devotees allowed themselves to be crushed beneath the wheels of this car. It is now known that any death within the temple of Jagannath is considered to render the place unclean, and any spilling of blood in the presence of the idol is a pollution.

Jaggery palm () An East Indian palm (Caryota urens) having leaves pinnate with wedge-shaped divisions, the petiole very stout. It is the principal source of jaggery, and is often cultivated for ornament.

Jambul (n.) The Java plum; also, a drug obtained from its bark and seeds, used as a remedy for diabetes.

Japan current () A branch of the equatorial current of the Pacific, washing the eastern coast of Formosa and thence flowing northeastward past Japan and merging into the easterly drift of the North Pacific; -- called also Kuro-Siwo, or Black Stream, in allusion to the deep blue of its water. It is similar in may ways to the Gulf Stream.

Japonism (n.) A quality, idiom, or peculiarity characteristic of the Japanese or their products, esp. in art.

Jardiniere (n.) A preparation of mixed vegetables stewed in a sauce with savory herbs, etc.; also, a soup made in this way.

Jaspe (a.) Having the surface decorated with cloudings and streaks, somewhat as if imitating jasper.

Jeffersonian (a.) Pert. to, or characteristic of, Thomas Jefferson (third President of the United States) or his political doctrines, which were those of the Republicanism of his time, as opposed to those of the Federalists.

Jeffersonian simplicity () The absence of pomp or display which Jefferson aimed at in his administration as President (1801-1809), eschewing display or ceremony tending to distinguish the President from the people, as in going to the capital on horseback and with no escort, the abolition of court etiquette and the weekly levee, refusal to recognize titles of honor, etc.

Jequirity bean () The seed of the wild licorice (Abrus precatorius) used by the people of India for beads in rosaries and necklaces, as a standard weight, etc.; -- called also jumble bead.

Jerry-builder (n.) A professional builder who erects cheap dwellings of poor materials and unsubstantial and slovenly construction.

Jet d'eau () A stream of water spouting, esp. upward, from a fountain or pipe for ornament; also, the fountain or pipe from which it issues.

Jeunesse doree () Lit., gilded youth; young people of wealth and fashion, esp. if given to prodigal living; -- in the French Revolution, applied to young men of the upper classes who aided in suppressing the Jacobins after the Reign of Terror.

Jewish calendar () A lunisolar calendar in use among Hebraic peoples, reckoning from the year 3761 b. c., the date traditionally given for the Creation.

Jibb () To shift, or swing round, as a sail, boom, yard, etc., as in tacking.

Jig (v. i.) To move with a skip or rhythm; to move with vibrations or jerks.

Jigger (n.) Any one of several species of small red mites (esp. Tetranychus irritans and T. Americanus) which, in the larval or leptus stage, burrow beneath the skin of man and various animals, causing great annoyance.

Jigger (v. t.) To move, send, or drive with a jerk; to jerk; also, to drive or send over with a jerk, as a golf ball.

Jehad (n.) A religious war against infidels or Mohammedan heretics; also, any bitter war or crusade for a principle or belief.

Jim Crow () A negro; -- said to be so called from a popular negro song and dance, the refrain of which is "Wheel about and turn about and jump Jim Crow," produced in 1835 by T. D. Rice, a famous negro minstrel.

Jink (v. i.) To move quickly, esp. with a sudden turn; hence, to dodge; to escape by a quick turn; -- obs. or dial., except as a hunting term in pig-sticking.

Jink (v. i.) In the games of spoilfive and forty-five, to win the game by taking all five tricks; also, to play to win all five tricks, losing what has been already won if unsuccessful.

Jinx (n.) A person, object, influence, or supernatural being which is supposed to bring bad luck or to cause things to go wrong.

Joint (n.) A projecting or retreating part in something; any irregularity of line or surface, as in a wall.

Joint (n.) A narrow piece of scenery used to join together two flats or wings of an interior setting.

Jolly (v. t.) To cause to be jolly; to make good-natured; to encourage to feel pleasant or cheerful; -- often implying an insincere or bantering spirit; hence, to poke fun at.

Joss paper () Gold and silver paper burned by the Chinese, in the form of coins or ingots, in worship and at funerals.

Joulemeter (n.) An integrating wattmeter for measuring the energy in joules expended in an electric circuit or developed by a machine.

Joule's cycle () The cycle for the air engine proposed by Joule. In it air is taken by a pump from a cold chamber and compressed adiabatically until its pressure is eqal to that of the air in a hot chamber, into which it is then delivered, thereby displacing an equal amount of hot air into the engine cylinder. Here it expands adiabatically to the temperature of the cold chamber into which it is finally exhausted. This cycle, reversed, is used in refrigerating machines.

Joule's law () The law that the rate at which heat is produced in any part of an electric circuit is measured by the product of the square of the current into the resistance of that part of the circuit. If the current (i) is constant for an interval of time (t), the energy (H) in heat units equals i2Rt, R being resistance.

Joule's law () The law that there is no change of temperature when a gas expands without doing external work and without receiving or rejecting heat.

Joobbeh () A long outer garment worn by both sexes of Mohammedans of the better class.

Judge-made (a.) Created by judges or judicial decision; -- applied esp. to law applied or established by the judicial interpretation of statutes so as extend or restrict their scope, as to meet new cases, to provide new or better remedies, etc., and often used opprobriously of acts judicial interpretation considered doing this.

Jujube (n.) A lozenge made of or in imitation of, or flavored with, the jujube fruit.

Jiujitsu () The Japanese art of self-defense without weapons, now widely used as a system of physical training. It depends for its efficiency largely upon the principle of making use of an opponent's strength and weight to disable or injure him, and by applying pressure so that his opposing movement will throw him out of balance, dislocate or break a joint, etc. It opposes knowledge and skill to brute strength, and demands an extensive practical knowledge of human anatomy.

Jukes, The () A pseudonym used to designate the descendants of two sisters, the "Jukes" sisters, whose husbands were sons of a backwoodsman of Dutch descent. They lived in the State of New York, and their history was investigated by R. L. Dugdale as an example of the inheritance of criminal and immoral tendencies, disease, and pauperism. Sixty per cent of those traced showed, degeneracy, and they are estimated to have cost society $1,308,000 in 75 years.

Jumelle (a.) Twin; paired; -- said of various objects made or formed in pairs, as a binocular opera glass, a pair of gimmal rings, etc.

Jumper (n.) A thing that jumps; esp., any of various tools or other contrivances operating with a jumping motion;

Jumper (n.) an instrument for boring holes in rocks by percussion without hammering, consisting of a bar of iron with a chisel-edged steel tip at one or both ends, operated by striking it against the rock, turning it slightly with each blow.

Jumping disease () A convulsive tic similar to or identical with miryachit, observed among the woodsmen of Maine.

Jump spark () A spark produced by the jumping of electricity across a permanent gap.

Jumpy (superl.) Jumping, or inducing to jump; characterized by jumps; hence, extremely nervous.

Junction box () A box through which the main conductors of a system of electric distribution pass, and where connection is made with branch circuits.

Jury mast () A temporary mast, in place of one that has been carried away, or broken.

Justify (v. t.) To show (a person) to have had a sufficient legal reason for an act that has been made the subject of a change or accusation.

Justify (v. t.) To qualify (one's self) as a surely by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property.

Kapok (n.) A silky wool derived from the seeds of Ceiba pentandra (syn. Eriodendron anfractuosum), a bombaceous tree of the East and West Indies.

Kaross (n.) A native garment or rug of skin sewed together in the form of a square.

Kauri (n.) By extension, any of various species of Dammara; as, the red kauri (D. lanceolata).

Copal () A resinous product of the kauri, found in the form of yellow or brown lumps in the ground where the trees have grown. It is used for making varnish, and as a substitute for amber.

Kazoo (n.) A kind of toy or rude musical instrument, as a tube inside of which is a stretched string made to vibrate by singing or humming into the tube.

Kea (n.) A large New Zealand parrot (Nestor notabilis), notorious for having acquired the habit of killing sheep; -- called also mountain parrot.

Keddah (n.) An inclosure constructed to entrap wild elephants; an elephant trap.

Keel (n.) In a dirigible, a construction similar in form and use to a ship's keel; in an aeroplane, a fin or fixed surface employed to increase stability and to hold the machine to its course.

Kefir (n.) An effervescent liquor like kumiss, made from fermented milk, used as a food and as a medicine in the northern Caucasus.

Kefir grains () Small hard yellowish aggregations found in the Caucasus region, and containing various yeasts and bacteria. They are used as a ferment in preparing kefir.

Keloid (a.) Applied to a variety of tumor forming hard, flat, irregular excrescences upon the skin.

Kepi (n.) A military cap having a close-fitting band, a round flat top sloping toward the front, and a visor. As originally worn by the French in Algeria about 1830 it was tall and stiff with a straight visor. It is now lower, has a curved visor, and is frequently soft.

Kermes (n.) A genus of scale insects including many species that feed on oaks. The adult female resembles a small gall.

Kern baby () A doll or image decorated with corn (grain) flowers, etc., carried in the festivals of a kern, or harvest-home. Called also harvest queen.

Keta (n.) A small salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) of inferior value, which in the autumn runs up all the larger rivers between San Francisco and Kamchatka.

Key (n.) A metallic lever by which the circuit of the sending or transmitting part of a station equipment may be easily and rapidly opened and closed; any device for closing or opening an electric circuit.

Key (n.) A simplified version or analysis which accompanies something as a clue to its explanation, a book or table containing the solutions to problems, ciphers, allegories, or the like, or a table or synopsis of conspicuous distinguishing characters of members of a taxonomic group.

Keystone State () Pennsylvania; -- a nickname alluding to its having been the central one of the 13 original United States.

Khaki (a.) Of a dull brownish yellow, or drab color; -- applied to cloth, originally to a stout brownish cotton cloth, used in making uniforms in the Anglo-Indian army.

Khaki (n.) Any kind of khaki cloth; hence, a uniform of khaki or, rarely, a soldier clad in khaki. In the United States and British armies khaki or cloth of a very similar color is almost exclusively used for service in the field.

Khond (n.) A Dravidian of a group of tribes of Orissa, India, a section of whom were formerly noted for their cruel human sacrifices to the earth goddess, murder of female infants, and marriage by capture.

Kibosh (n.) Portland cement when thrown or blown into the recesses of carved stonework to intensify the shadows.

Kid (n.) Among pugilists, thieves, etc., a youthful expert; -- chiefly used attributively; as, kid Jones.

Kilkenny cats () Two cats fabled, in an Irish story, to have fought till nothing was left but their tails. It is probably a parable of a local contest between Kilkenny and Irishtown, which impoverished both towns.

Kilo- () A combining form used to signify thousand in forming the names of units of measurement; as, kilogram, kilometer, kilowatt, etc.

Kilowatt hour () A unit of work or energy equal to that done by one kilowatt acting for one hour; -- approx. = 1.34 horse-power hour.

Kimono (n.) A kind of loose robe or gown tied with a sash, worn as an outer garment by Japanese men and women.

Kimono (n.) A similar gown worn as a dressing gown by women of Western nations.

Kine () The unit velocity in the C.G.S. system -- a velocity of one centimeter per second.

Kinetograph (n.) A machine for the projection of chronophotographs upon a screen for the purpose of producing the effect of an animated picture.

Kinetograph (n.) A combined animated-picture machine and phonograph in which sounds appropriate to the scene are automatically uttered by the latter instrument.

Kinetophone (n.) A machine combining a kinetoscope and a phonograph synchronized so as to reproduce a scene and its accompanying sounds.

Kinetoscope (n.) A machine, for the production of animated pictures, in which a film carrying successive instantaneous views of a moving scene travels uniformly through the field of a magnifying glass. The observer sees each picture, momentarily, through a slit in a revolving disk, and these glimpses, blended by persistence of vision, give the impression of continuous motion.

Kinit (n.) A unit of force equal to the force which, acting for one second, will give a pound a velocity of one foot per second; -- proposed by J.D.Everett, an English physicist.

Kiosk (n.) A light ornamental structure used as a news stand, band stand, etc.

Kip (n.) A method or feat of raising the body when hanging or swinging by the arms, as for the purpose of mounting upon the horizontal bar. The legs are swung forward and upward by bending the hips, then suddenly down again, which gives the upward impulse to the body.

Kissing bug () Any one of several species of blood-sucking, venomous Hemiptera that sometimes bite the lip or other parts of the human body, causing painful sores, as the cone-nose (Conorhinus sanguisuga).

Kitchenette (n.) A room combining a very small kitchen and a pantry, with the kitchen conveniences compactly arranged, sometimes so that they fold up out of sight and allow the kitchen to be made a part of the adjoining room by opening folding doors.

Kite (n.) A form of drag to be towed under water at any depth up to about forty fathoms, which on striking bottom is upset and rises to the surface; -- called also sentry.

Kitty (n.) The percentage taken out of a pool to pay for refreshments, or for the expenses of the table.

Kiva (n.) A large chamber built under, or in, the houses of a Pueblo village, used as an assembly room in religious rites or as a men's dormitory. It is commonly lighted and entered from an opening in the roof.

Knee jerk () A jerk or kick produced by a blow or sudden strain upon the patellar tendon of the knee, which causes a sudden contraction of the quadriceps muscle.

Cure () Treatment of disease by forms of hydrotherapy, as walking barefoot in the morning dew, baths, wet compresses, cold affusions, etc.; -- so called from its originator, Sebastian Kneipp (1821-97), a German priest.

Knickerbocker (n.) A linsey-woolsey fabric having a rough knotted surface on the right side; used for women's dresses.

Knife (v. t.) Fig.: To stab in the back; to try to defeat by underhand means, esp. in politics; to vote or work secretly against (a candidate of one's own party).

Knife switch () A switch consisting of one or more knifelike pieces hinged at one end and making contact near the other with flat gripping springs.

Knight's service () The military service by rendering which a knight held his lands; also, the tenure of lands held on condition of performing military service.

Knight's service () Service such as a knight can or should render; hence, good or valuable service.

Knight's fee () The fee of a knight; specif., the amount of land the holding of which imposed the obligation of knight service, being sometimes a hide or less, sometimes six or more hides.

Knobkerrie (n.) A short club with a knobbed end used as a missile weapon by Kafir and other native tribes of South Africa.

Knobstick (n.) A stick, cane, or club terminating in a knob; esp., such a stick or club used as a weapon or missile; a knobkerrie.

Knock (v. i.) To practice evil speaking or fault-finding; to criticize habitually or captiously.

Knock (v. t.) To impress strongly or forcibly; to astonish; to move to admiration or applause.

Knockabout (n.) A small yacht, generally from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, having a mainsail and a jib. All knockabouts have ballast and either a keel or centerboard. The original type was twenty-one feet in length. The next larger type is called a raceabout.

Knockabout (a.) Characterized by, or suitable for, knocking about, or traveling or wandering hither and thither.

Knockabout (a.) That does odd jobs; -- said of a class of hands or laborers on a sheep station.

Knockdown (a.) Of such force as to fell or overthrow; overwhelming; as, a knockdown blow.

Knockdown (a.) Designating a rivet end to be formed into a head by upsetting in fastening.

Knockdown (a.) Of or pertaining to the act of knocking down at an auction; specif., designating the price below which an article will not be disposed by the auctioneer.

Knockdown (a.) Made or constructed so as to be capable of being knocked down or taken apart, as for transportation.

Knockdown (n.) That which knocks one down; something that overpowers or overwhelms, as strong liquor; specif., a kind of ale or beer that is very strong.

Knockdown (n.) A knocking down; a felling by a knock; a blow that overwhelms; also, a fist fight.

Knockdown (n.) Something that knocks down, or takes apart, for packing or removal, as a piece of furniture; also, state of being knocked down, or taken apart.

Knocker (n.) A person strikingly handsome, beautiful, or fine; one who wins admiration; a "stunner."

Knocker (n.) A species of large cockroach, esp. Blabera gigantea, of semitropical America, which as able to produce a loud knocking sound.

Knock-off (n.) a cam or the like for disconnecting something, as a device in a knitting machine to remove loops from the needles.

Knock-out (a.) That knocks out; characterized by knocking out; as, a knock-out blow; a knock-out key for knocking out a drill from a collet.

Knock-out drops () Drops of some drug put in one's drink to stupefy him for purpose of robbery, etc.

Kodak (n.) A kind of portable photographic camera, esp. adapted for snapshot work, in which a succession of negatives is made upon a continuous roll of sensitized film; -- a trade-mark name of the Eastman Kodak Company, but now popularly applied to almost any hand camera.

Kodak (v. t. & i.) To photograph with a kodak; hence, to describe or characterize briefly and vividly.

Koftgari (a.) Ornamental work produced by inlaying steel with gold, -- a variety of damascening much used in the arts of India.

Kolinsky (n.) Among furriers, any of several Asiatic minks; esp., Putorius sibiricus, the yellowish brown pelt of which is valued, esp. for the tail, used for making artists' brushes. Trade names for the fur are red sable and Tatar sable.

Kolushan (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a linguistic stock of North American Indians comprising the Tlinkit tribes of the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska and adjacent coast lands. Their language bears some affinity to Mexican tongues.

Konseal (n.) A form of capsule for inclosing a dose of medicine that is offensive, caustic, or the like.

Kosher (a.) Ceremonially clean, according to Jewish law; -- applied to food, esp. to meat of animals slaughtered according to the requirements of Jewish law. Opposed to tref. Hence, designating a shop, store, house, etc., where such food is sold or used.

Kosher (v. t.) To prepare in conformity with the requirements of the Jewish law, as meat.

Krupp process () A process practiced by Friedrich Krupp, Essen, Germany, for washing pig iron, differing from the Bell process in using manganese as well as iron oxide, and performed in a Pernot furnace. Called also the Bell-Krupp process.

Krupp process () A process for the manufacture of steel armor plates, invented or practiced by Krupp, the details of which are secret. It is understood to involve the addition of chromium as well as nickel to the metal, and to include a treatment like that of the Harvey process with unknown variations or additions. The product is mentioned by some authors, as improved Harvey, or Harvey-Krupp armor plate.

Krypton (n.) An inert gaseous element of the argon group, occurring in air to the extent of about one volume in a million. It was discovered by Ramsay and Travers in 1898. Liquefying point, -- 152¡ C.; symbol, Kr; atomic weight, 83.0.

Kulturkampf (n.) Lit., culture war; -- a name, originating with Virchow (1821 -- 1902), given to a struggle between the the Roman Catholic Church and the German government, chiefly over the latter's efforts to control educational and ecclesiastical appointments in the interest of the political policy of centralization. The struggle began with the passage by the Prussian Diet in May, 1873, of the so-called May laws, or Falk laws, aiming at the regulation of the clergy. Opposition eventually compelled the government to change its policy, and from 1880 to 1887 laws virtually nullifying the May laws were enacted.

L (a.) Having the general shape of the (capital) letter L; as, an L beam, or L-beam.

L (a.) Elevated; -- a symbol for el. as an abbreviation of elevated in elevated road or railroad.

Laager (n.) A camp, esp. one with an inclosure of travelers' wagons for temporary defense.

Labioplasty (n.) A plastic operation for making a new lip, or for replacing a lost tissue of a lip.

Labor Day () In most of the States and Territories of the United States, a day, usually the first Monday of September, set aside as a legal holiday, in honor of, or in the interest of, workingmen as a class. Also, a similar holiday in Canada, Australia, etc.

Labret (n.) A piece of wood, shell, stone, or other substance, worn in a perforation of the lip or cheek by many savages.

Lady's cloth () A kind of broadcloth of light weight, used for women's dresses, cloaks, etc.

Lag (n.) The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

Lagnappe (n.) In Louisiana, a trifling present given to customers by tradesmen; a gratuity.

Laker (n.) One that is connected with a lake or lakes, as in habitation, toil, etc.:

Laker (n.) One of the poets of the Lake school. See Lake poets, under Lake, n.

Lambkill (n.) A small American ericaceous shrub (Kalmia angustifolia); -- called also calfkill, sheepkill, sheep laurel, etc. It is supposed to poison sheep and other animals that eat it at times when the snow is deep and they cannot find other food.

Landtrost () A chief magistrate in rural districts. He was replaced in 1827 by "resident magistrates."

Land League () In Ireland, a combination of tenant farmers and other, organized, with Charles Stewart Parnell as president, in 1879 with a view to the reduction of farm rents and a reconstruction of the land laws.

Land of Steady Habits () Connecticut; -- a nickname alluding to the moral character of its inhabitants, implied by the rigid laws (see Blue laws) of the early period.

Landsturm (n.) In Germany and other European nations, and Japan: (a) A general levy in time of war. (b) The forces called out on such levy, composed of all men liable to service who are not in the army, navy, or Landwehr; the last line of defense, supposed to be called out only in case of invasion or other grave emergency. See Army organization, above.

Larrikin (n.) A rowdy street loafer; a rowdyish or noisy ill-bred fellow; -- variously applied, as to a street blackguard, a street Arab, a youth given to horse-play, etc.

Larvate (a.) Masked; hence, concealed; obscure; -- applied in medicine to doubtful cases of some diseases; as, larvate pneumonis; larvate epilepsy.

Laryngograph (n.) An instrument for recording the larynx movements in speech.

Latah (n.) A convulsive tic or hysteric neurosis prevalent among Malays, similar to or identical with miryachit and jumping disease, the person affected performing various involuntary actions and making rapid inarticulate ejaculations in imitation of the actions and words of another person.

Lautverschiebung (n.) The regular changes which the primitive Indo-European stops, or mute consonants, underwent in the Teutonic languages, probably as early as the 3d century b. c. , often called the first Lautverschiebung, sound shifting, or consonant shifting.

Lautverschiebung (n.) A somewhat similar set of changes taking place in the High German dialects (less fully in modern literary German) from the 6th to the 8th century, known as the second Lautverschiebung, the result of which form the striking differences between High German and The Low German Languages. The statement of these changes is commonly regarded as forming part of Grimm's law, because included in it as originally framed.

Lavalliere (n.) A neck ornament consisting of a chain and single pendant, or drop.

Layette (n.) The outfit of clothing, blankets, etc., prepared for a newborn infant, and placed ready for used.

Lay reader () A layman authorized to read parts of the public service of the church.

Layshaft (n.) A secondary shaft, as in a sliding change gear for an automobile; a cam shaft operated by a two-to-one gear in an internal-combustion engine. It is generally a shaft moving more or less independently of the other parts of a machine, as, in some marine engines, a shaft, driven by a small auxiliary engine, for independently operating the valves of the main engine to insure uniform motion.

Lazaretto (n.) A low space under the after part of the main deck, used as a storeroom.

Lead (n.) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.

Lead (n.) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.

Lead (n.) In an internal-combustion engine, the distance, measured in actual length of piston stroke or the corresponding angular displacement of the crank, of the piston from the end of the compression stroke when ignition takes place; -- called in full lead of the ignition. When ignition takes place during the working stroke the corresponding distance from the commencement of the stroke is called negative lead.

Lead (n.) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.

Lead (n.) In spiral screw threads, worm wheels, or the like, the amount of advance of any point in the spiral for a complete turn.

Lead (n.) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.

Lead (n.) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

Lead (n.) A r/le for a leading man or leading woman; also, one who plays such a r/le.

Leak (n.) A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation; also, the point at which such loss occurs.

Liangle (n.) A heavy weapon of the Australian aborigines with a sharp-pointed end, about nine inches in length, projecting at right angles from the main part.

Left (a.) Situated so that the left side of the body is toward it; as, the left side of a deliberative meeting is that to the left of the presiding officer; the left wing of an army is that to the left of the center to one facing an enemy.

Leg (n.) Either side of a triangle of a triangle as distinguished from the base or, in a right triangle, from the hypotenuse; also, an indefinitely extending branch of a curve, as of a hyperbola.

Leg (n.) A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.

Leg bridge () A type of bridge for small spans in which the floor girders are rigidly secured at their extremities to supporting steel legs, driven into the round as piling, or resting on mudsills.

Leg-of-mutton (a.) Having the general shape or outline of a leg of mutton; as, a leg-of-mutton, or shoulder-of-mutton, sail.

Lenard rays () Rays emanating from the outer surface of a plate composed of any material permeable by cathode rays, as aluminium, which forms a portion of a wall of a vacuum tube, or which is mounted within the tube and exposed to radiation from the cathode. Lenard rays are similar in all their known properties to cathode rays. So called from the German physicist Philipp Lenard (b. 1862), who first described them.

Lesbian (a.) Amatory; erotic; -- in allusion to the reputed sensuality of the Lesbian people and literature; as, Lesbian novels.

Letter (n.) A telegram longer than an ordinary message sent at rates lower than the standard message rate in consideration of its being sent and delivered subject to priority in service of regular messages. Such telegrams are called by the Western Union Company day, / night, letters according to the time of sending, and by The Postal Telegraph Company day, / night, lettergrams.

Levorotation (n.) Rotation in the direction of an outgoing right-handed screw; counter-clockwise rotation; -- applied chiefly to the turning of the plane of polarization of light.

Libellee (n.) The party against whom a libel has been filed; -- corresponding to defendant in a common law action.

Liederkranz (n.) Lit., wreath of songs; -- used as the title of a group of songs, and esp. as the common name for German vocal clubs of men.

Lightstruck (a.) Damaged by accidental exposure to light; light-fogged; -- said of plates or films.

Lightweight (n.) In boxing, wrestling, etc., one weighingnot more than 133 pounds (U. S. amateur rules 135 pounds, Eng. 140 pounds).

Lightweight (a.) Light in weight, as a coin; specif., applied to a man or animal who is a lightweight.

Light year () The distance over which light can travel in a year's time; -- used as a unit in expressing stellar distances. It is more than 63,000 times as great as the distance from the earth to the sun.

Like (n.) The stroke which equalizes the number of strokes played by the opposing player or side; as, to play the like.

Likin (n.) A Chinese provincial tax levied at many inland stations upon imports or articles in transit.

Limburger cheese () A soft cheese made in the Belgian province of Limburg (Limbourg), and usually not eaten until the curing has developed a peculiar and, to most people, unpleasant odor.

Limelight (n.) That part of the stage upon which the limelight as cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated. Hence, consspicuous position before the public; as, politicians who are never happy except in the limelight.

Limerick (n.) A nonsense poem of five anapestic lines, of which lines 1, 2, and 5 are of there feet, and rime, and lines 3 and 4 are of two feet, and rime; as --There was a young lady, Amanda,/Whose Ballades Lyriques were quite fin de/Si/cle, I deem/But her Journal Intime/Was what sent her papa to Uganda.//

Limousine (n.) An automobile body with seats and permanent top like a coupe, and with the top projecting over the driver and a projecting front; also, an automobile with such a body.

Lineup (n.) The formation of football players before the start or a restart of play;

Lineup (n.) any arrangement of persons (rarely, of things), esp. when having a common purpose or sentiment; as, the line-up at a ticket-office window; the line-up of political factions.

Lingerie (n.) Linen goods collectively; linen underwear, esp. of women; the clothing of linen and cotton with its lace, etc., worn by a women.

Lingua Franca () Any hybrid or other language used over a wide area as a common or commercial tongue among peoples of different speech.

Link (n.) A hill or ridge, as a sand hill, or a wooded or turfy bank between cultivated fields, etc.

Link (n.) A winding of a river; also, the ground along such a winding; a meander; -- usually in pl.

Link (n.) Sand hills with the surrounding level or undulating land, such as occur along the seashore, a river bank, etc.

Links (n.) A tract of ground laid out for the game of golf; a golfing green.

Linotype (n.) A kind of typesetting machine which produces castings, each of which corresponds to a line of separate types. By pressing upon keys like those of a typewriter the matrices for one line are properly arranged; the stereotype, or slug, is then cast and planed, and the matrices are returned to their proper places, the whole process being automatic.

Linotype (n.) The slug produced by the machine, or matter composed in such lines.

Liquid air () A transparent limpid liquid, slightly blue in color, consisting of a mixture of liquefied oxygen and nitrogen. It is prepared by subjecting air to great pressure and then cooling it by its own expansion to a temperature below the boiling point of its constituents (N -194¡ C; O -183¡ C.).

List (v. t.) In cotton culture, to prepare, as land, for the crop by making alternating beds and alleys with the hoe.

Lister (n.) A double-moldboard plow which throws a deep furrow, and at the same time plants and covers grain in the bottom of the furrow.

Litchi (n.) A genus of East Indian sapindaceous trees consisting of a single species (Litchi Chinensis, syn. Nephelium Litchi) which bears the litchi nut.

Lithophane (n.) Porcelain impressed with figures which are made distinct by transmitted light, as in a lamp shade.

Lithosphere (n.) The solid earth as distinguished from its fluid envelopes, the hydrosphere and atmosphere.

Lithosphere (n.) The outer part of the solid earth, the portion undergoing change through the gradual transfer of material by volcanic eruption, the circulation of underground water, and the process of erosion and deposition. It is, therefore, regarded as a third mobile envelope comparable with the hydrosphere and atmosphere.

Lithotype (n.) An etched stone surface for printing, having the design in relief; also, the process of printing from such a surface, or that which is printed from it.

Lithotype (n.) A machine, with a keyboard like that of a typewriter, for making a lithographic transfer sheet. It produces a perforated strip of paper which controls the printing.

Living picture () A tableau in which persons take part; also, specif., such a tableau as imitating a work of art.

Lob (n.) The act of lobbing; specif., an (often gentle) stroke which sends a ball up into the air, as in tennis to avoid a player at the net.

Lobster (n.) As a term of opprobrium or contempt: A gullible, awkward, bungling, or undesirable person.

Loco (n.) Any one of various leguminous plants or weeds besides Astragalus, whose herbage is poisonous to cattle, as Spiesia Lambertii, syn. Oxytropis Lambertii.

Loco (v. t.) To poison with loco; to affect with the loco disease; hence (Colloq.), to render insane or mad.

Loco disease () A chronic nervous affection of cattle, horses, and sheep, caused by eating the loco weed and characterized by a slow, measured gait, high step, glassy eyes with defective vision, delirium, and gradual emaciation.

Loft (n.) Pitch or slope of the face of a club (tending to drive the ball upward).

Loft (v. t.) To make or furnish with a loft; to cause to have loft; as, a lofted house; a lofted golf-club head.

Loft (v. t. & i.) to strike (the ball) so that it will go over an obstacle.

Lofter (n.) An iron club used in lofting the ball; -- called also lofting iron.

London smoke () A neutral tint given to spectacles, shade glasses for optical instruments, etc., which reduces the intensity without materially changing the color of the transmitted light.

Lone-Star State () Texas; -- a nickname alluding to the single star on its coat of arms, being the device used on its flag and seal when it was a republic.

Long (a.) Having a supply of stocks or goods; prepared for, or depending for a profit upon, advance in prices; as, long of cotton. Hence, the phrases: to be, or go, long of the market, to be on the long side of the market, to hold products or securities for a rise in price, esp. when bought on a margin.

nuns () Members of a congregation of nuns founded by Mrs. Mary Teresa Ball, near Dublin, Ireland, in 1822, and now spread over Ireland, India, Canada, and the United States. The nuns are called also Ladies of Loreto. They are engaged in teaching girls.

Lorettine (n.) One of an order of nuns founded in 1812 at Loretto, in Kentucky. The members of the order (called also Sisters of Loretto, or Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross) devote themselves to the cause of education and the care of destitute orphans, their labors being chiefly confined to the western United States.

Louping () An enzootic, often fatal, disease of sheep and other domestic animals, of unknown cause. It is characterized by muscular tremors and spasms, followed by more or less complete paralysis. The principal lesion is an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

Loving cup () A large ornamental drinking vessel having two or more handles, intended to pass from hand to hand, as at a banquet.

Lowboy (n.) A chest of drawers not more than four feet high; -- applied commonly to the lower half of a tallboy from which the upper half has been removed.

Luffa (n.) A small genus of tropical cucurbitaceous plants having white flowers, the staminate borne in racemes, and large fruits with a dry fibrous pericarp. The fruit of several species and the species themselves, esp. L. Aegyptiaca, are called dishcloth gourds.

Luffa (n.) The fibrous skeleton of the fruit, used as a sponge and in the manufacture of caps and women's hats; -- written also loofah.

Lumen (n.) A unit of illumination, being the amount of illumination of a unit area of spherical surface, due to a light of unit intensity placed at the center of the sphere.

Lumen (n.) A unit of light flux, being the flux through one square meter of surface the illumination of which is uniform and of unit brightness.

Luminescence (n.) Any emission of light not ascribable directly to incandescence, and therefore occurring at low temperatures, as in phosphorescence and fluorescence or other luminous radiation resulting from vital processes, chemical action, friction, solution, or the influence of light or of ultraviolet or cathode rays, etc.

Luminescence (n.) The faculty or power of voluntarily producing light, as in the firefly and glowworm.

Luminescent (a.) Shining with a light due to any of the various causes which produce luminescence.

Lutecium (n.) A metallic element separated from ytterbium in 1907, by Urbain in Paris and by von Welsbach in Vienna. Symbol, Lu; at. wt. 174.0.

Lycee (n.) A French lyceum, or secondary school supported by the French government, for preparing students for the university.

Lyddite (n.) A high explosive consisting principally of picric acid, used as a shell explosive in the British service; -- so named from the proving grounds at Lydd, England.

Lymph (n.) A fluid containing certain products resulting from the growth of specific microorganisms upon some culture medium, and supposed to be possessed of curative properties.

Macedoine (n.) A kind of mixed dish, as of cooked vegetables with white sauce, sweet jelly with whole fruit, etc. Also, fig., a medley.

Mackinaw boat () A flat-bottomed boat with a pointed prow and square stern, using oars or sails or both, used esp. on the upper Great Lakes and their tributaries.

Mackinaw coat () A short, heavy, double-breasted plaid coat, the design of which is large and striking.

M'-Naught (v. t.) To increase the power of (a single-cylinder beam engine) by adding a small high-pressure cylinder with a piston acting on the beam between the center and the flywheel end, using high-pressure steam and working as a compound engine, -- a plan introduced by M'Naught, a Scottish engineer, in 1845.

Macrograph (n.) A picture of an object as seen by the naked eye (that is, unmagnified); as, a macrograph of a metallic fracture.

Macrography (n.) Examination or study with the naked eye, as distinguished from micrography.

Madeira vine () A herbaceous climbing vine (Boussingaultia baselloides) very popular in cultivation, having shining entire leaves and racemens of small fragrant white flowers.

Madeira wood () A West Indian leguminous tree (Lysiloma Latisiliqua) the wood of which is used for boat trimming.

Madras (n.) A large silk-and-cotton kerchief, usually of bright colors, such as those often used by negroes for turbans.

Mafia (n.) A secret society which organized in Sicily as a political organization, but is now widespread among Italians, and is used to further or protect private interests, reputedly by illegal methods.

Magazine (n.) A reservoir or supply chamber for a stove, battery, camera, typesetting machine, or other apparatus.

Magazine camera () A camera in which a number of plates can be exposed without reloading.

Magnetomotive (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a force producing magnetic flux, analogous to electromotive force, and equal to the magnetic flux multiplied by the magnetic reluctance.

Mahatma (n.) One of a class of sages, or "adepts," reputed to have knowledge and powers of a higher order than those of ordinary men.

Mahdism (n.) Belief in the coming of the Mahdi; fanatical devotion to the cause of the Mahdi or a pretender to that title.

Maidan (n.) In various parts of Asia, an open space, as for military exercises, or for a market place; an open grassy tract; an esplanade.

Make and break () Any apparatus for making and breaking an electric circuit; a circuit breaker.

Malaria parasite () Any of several minute protozoans of the genus Plasmodium (syn. Haematozoon) which in their adult condition live in the tissues of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles (which see) and when transferred to the blood of man, by the bite of the mosquito, produce malaria.

Mallee (n.) A dwarf Australian eucalypt with a number of thin stems springing from a thickened stock. The most common species are Eucalyptus dumosa and E. Gracilis.

Mandola (n.) An instrument closely resembling the mandolin, but of larger size and tuned lower.

Manganese steel () Cast steel containing a considerable percentage of manganese, which makes it very hard and tough. See Alloy steel, above.

Manhandle (v. t.) To move, or manage, by human force without mechanical aid; as, to manhandle a cannon.

Manhes process () A process by which copper matte is treated by passing through it a blast of air, to oxidize and remove sulphur. It is analogous in apparatus to the Bessemer process for decarbonizing cast iron. So called from Pierre Manhes, a French metallurgist, who invented it.

Manicure (v. t. & i.) To care for (the hands and nails); to care for the hands and nails of; to do manicure work.

Mano (n.) The muller, or crushing and grinding stone, used in grinding corn on a metate.

Manograph (n.) An optical device for making an indicator diagram for high-speed engines. It consists of a light-tight box or camera having at one end a small convex mirror which reflects a beam of light on to the ground glass or photographic plate at the other end. The mirror is pivoted so that it can be moved in one direction by a small plunger operated by an elastic metal diaphragm which closes a tube connected with the engine cylinder. It is also moved at right angles to this direction by a reducing motion, called a reproducer, so as to copy accurately on a smaller scale the motion of the engine piston. The resultant of these two movements imparts to the reflected beam of light a motion similar to that of the pencil of the ordinary indicator, and this can be traced on the sheet of ground glass, or photographed.

Mantelletta (n.) A silk or woolen vestment without sleeves worn by cardinals, bishops, abbots, and the prelates of the Roman court. It has a low collar, is fastened in front, and reaches almost to the knees.

Manzanilla (n.) A kind of small roundish olive with a small freestone pit, a fine skin, and a peculiar bitterish flavor. Manzanillas are commonly pitted and stuffed with Spanish pimientos.

Marabou (n.) A kind of thrown raw silk, nearly white naturally, but capable of being dyed without scouring; also, a thin fabric made from it, as for scarfs, which resembles the feathers of the marabou in delicacy, -- whence the name.

Mahratta (n.) A Sanskritic language of western India, prob. descended from the Maharastri Prakrit, spoken by the Marathas and neighboring peoples. It has an abundant literature dating from the 13th century. It has a book alphabet nearly the same as Devanagari and a cursive script translation between the Devanagari and the Gujarati.

Marconi (a.) Designating, or pert. to, Marconi's system of wireless telegraphy; as, Marconi aerial, coherer, station, system, etc.

Marconi's law () The law that the maximum good signaling distance varies directly as the square of the height of the transmitting antenna.

Marconism (n.) The theory or practice of Marconi's wireless telegraph system.

Marconi system () A system or wireless telegraphy developed by G. Marconi, an Italian physicist, in which Hertzian waves are used in transmission and a coherer is used as the receiving instrument.

Mare clausum () Lit., closed sea; hence, a body of water within the separate jurisdiction of the nation; -- opposed to open sea, the water open to all nations and over which no single nation has special control.

Margaryize (v. t.) To impregnate (wood) with a preservative solution of copper sulphate (often called Mar"ga*ry's flu"id [-r/z]).

Marinism (n.) A bombastic literary style marked by the use of metaphors and antitheses characteristic of the Italian poet Giambattista Marini (1569-1625).

Marriage (n.) In bezique, penuchle, and similar games at cards, the combination of a king and queen of the same suit. If of the trump suit, it is called a royal marriage.

Martian (a.) Of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war, or to the planet bearing his name; martial.

Mashy (n.) A golf club like the iron, but with a shorter head, slightly more lofted, used chiefly for short approaches.

Massage (v. t.) To treat by means of massage; to rub or knead; as, to massage a patient with ointment.

Mast (n.) A spar or strut to which tie wires or guys are attached for stiffening purposes.

Mastabah () In Mohammedan countries, a fixed seat, common in dwellings and in public places.

Mastabah () A type of tomb, of the time of the Memphite dynasties, comprising an oblong structure with sloping sides (sometimes containing a decorated chamber, sometimes of solid masonry), and connected with a mummy chamber in the rock beneath.

Master vibrator () In an internal-combustion engine with two or more cylinders, an induction coil and vibrator placed in the circuit between the battery or magneto and the coils for the different cylinders, which are used without vibrators of their own.

Matador (n.) The jack of clubs, or any other trump held in sequence with it, whether by the player or by his adversaries.

Matador (n.) A certain game of dominoes in which four dominoes (the 4-3, 5-2, 6-1, and double blank), called matadors, may be played at any time in any way.

Matajuelo (n.) A large squirrel fish (Holocentrus ascensionis) of Florida and the West Indies.

Matajuelo banco () A West Indian food fish (Malacanthus plumieri) related to the tilefish.

Match game () A game arranged as a test of superiority; also, one of a series of such games.

Match play () Play in which the score is reckoned by counting the holes won or lost by each side; -- disting. from medal play.

Matelasse (a.) Ornamented by means of an imitation or suggestion of quilting, the surface being marked by depressed lines which form squares or lozenges in relief; as, matelasse silks.

Matelotte (n.) A stew, commonly of fish, flavored with wine, and served with a wine sauce containing onions, mushrooms, etc.

Matelotte (n.) An old dance of sailors, in double time, and somewhat like a hornpipe.

Mattoid (n.) A person of congenitally abnormal mind bordering on insanity or degeneracy.

Mattoir (n.) A kind of coarse punch with a rasplike face, used for making a rough surface on etching ground, or on the naked copper, the effect after biting being very similar to stippled lines.

Maundy (n.) The ceremony of washing the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday.

Maundy (n.) The alms distributed in connection with this ceremony or on Maundy Thursday.

money () Silver coins or money of the nominal value of 1d., 2d., 3d., and 4d., struck annually for the Maundy alms.

Maverick brand () A brand originated by a dishonest cattleman, who, without owning any stock, gradually accumulates a herd by finding mavericks.

Mavourneen (n.) My darling; -- an Irish term of endearment for a girl or woman.

Maxim gun () A kind of machine gun; -- named after its inventor, Hiram S. Maxim.

Mayan (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, an American Indian linguistic stock occupying the Mexican States of Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of Guatemala and a part of Salvador. The Mayan peoples are dark, short, and brachycephallic, and at the time of the discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any other American people. They cultivated a variety of crops, were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were workers of gold, silver, and copper. Their architecture comprised elaborately carved temples and places, and they possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to about 700 a. d.

May laws () In Russia, severe oppressive laws against Jews, which have given occasion for great persecution; -- so called because they received the assent of the czar in May, 1882, and because likened to the Prussian May laws (see Kulturkampf).

Medal play () Play in which the score is reckoned by counting the number of strokes.

Medicine (n.) Among the North American Indians, any object supposed to give control over natural or magical forces, to act as a protective charm, or to cause healing; also, magical power itself; the potency which a charm, token, or rite is supposed to exert.

Mediterranean fruit fly () A two-winged fly (Ceratitis capitata) with black and white markings, native of the Mediterranean countries, but now widely distributed. Its larva lives in ripening oranges, peaches, and other fruits, causing them to decay and fall.

Medjidieh (n.) A silver coin of Turkey formerly rated at twenty, but since 1880 at nineteen, piasters (about 83 cents).

Medjidieh (n.) A gold coin of Turkey equal to one hundred piastres ($4.396 or 18s. /d.); a lira, or Turkish pound.

Medjidieh (n.) A Turkish honorary order established in 1851 by Abdul-Mejid, having as its badge a medallion surrounded by seven silver rays and crescents. It is often conferred on foreigners.

Megascopical (a.) Of or pertaining to the megascope or the projection upon a screen of images of opaque objects.

Megascopical (a.) Enlarged or magnified; -- said of images or of photographic pictures, etc.

Megascopical (a.) Large enough to be seen; -- said of the larger structural features and components of rocks which do not require the use of the microscope to be perceived. Opposed to microscopic.

Melanconiaceae (n. pl.) A family of fungi constituting the order Melanconiales.

Melanconiales (n. pl.) The smallest of the three orders of Fungi Imperfecti, including those with no asci nor pycnidia, but as a rule having the spores in cavities without special walls. They cause many of the plant diseases known as anthracnose.

Melanism (n.) The character of having a high degree of pigmentation, as shown in dark skin, eyes, and hair.

Meld (v. t. & i.) In the game of pinochle, to declare or announce for a score; as, to meld a sequence.

Meld (n.) Any combination or score which may be declared, or melded, in pinochle.

Melee (n.) A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the contest continuing until no member of one group retains his plume; -- sometimes called Balaklava melee.

Melinite (n.) A high explosive similar to lyddite, consisting principally of picric acid, used in the French military service.

Melungeon (n.) One of a mixed white and Indian people living in parts of Tennessee and the Carolinas. They are descendants of early intermixtures of white settlers with natives. In North Carolina the Croatan Indians, regarded as descended from Raleigh's lost colony of Croatan, formerly classed with negroes, are now legally recognized as distinct.

Memento mori () Lit., remember to die, i.e., that you must die; a warning to be prepared for death; an object, as a death's-head or a personal ornament, usually emblematic, used as a reminder of death.

Memorial Day () A day, May 30, appointed for commemorating, by decorating their graves with flowers, by patriotic exercises, etc., the dead soldiers and sailors who served the Civil War (1861-65) in the United States; Decoration Day. It is a legal holiday in most of the States. In the Southern States, the Confederate Memorial Day is: May 30 in Virginia; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in North Carolina and South Carolina; the second Friday in May in Tennessee; June 3 in Louisiana.

Memorial rose () A Japanese evergreen rose (Rosa wichuraiana) with creeping branches, shining leaves, and single white flowers. It is often planted in cemeteries.

Mem-sahib (n.) Lady; mistress; -- used by Hindustani-speaking natives in India in addressing European women.

Mendelian character () A character which obeys Mendel's law in regard to its hereditary transmission.

Mendel's law () A principle governing the inheritance of many characters in animals and plants, discovered by Gregor J. Mendel (Austrian Augustinian abbot, 1822-84) in breeding experiments with peas. He showed that the height, color, and other characters depend on the presence of determinating factors behaving as units. In any given germ cell each of these is either present or absent.

Mercerize (v. t.) To treat (cotton fiber or fabrics) with a solution of caustic alkali. Such treatment causes the fiber to shrink in length and become stronger and more receptive of dyes. If the yarn or cloth is kept under tension during the process, it assumes a silky luster.

Mercurialism (n.) The morbid condition produced by the excessive use of mercury, or by exposure to its fumes, as in mining or smelting.

Mero (n.) Any of several large groupers of warm seas, esp. the guasa (Epinephelus guaza), the red grouper (E. morio), the black grouper (E. nigritas), distinguished as Me"ro de lo al"to (/), and a species called also rock hind, distinguished as Me"ro ca*brol"la (/).

Merozoite (n.) A form of spore, usually elongate or falciform, and somewhat amoeboid, produced by segmentation of the schizonts of certain Sporozoa, as the malaria parasite.

Mesomycetes (n. pl.) One of the three classes into which the fungi are divided in Brefeld's classification.

Mesothorium (n.) A radioactive product intermediate between thorium and radiothorium, with a period of 5.5 years.

Mess (v. t.) To make a mess of; to disorder or muddle; to muss; to jumble; to disturb.

Message stick () A stick, carved with lines and dots, used, esp. by Australian aborigines, to convey information.

Mess beef () Barreled salt beef, packed with about 80 pounds chuck and rump, two flanks, and the rest plates.

Metabolism (n.) The series of chemical changes which take place in an organism, by means of which food is manufactured and utilized and waste materials are eliminated.

Metallophone (n.) An instrument like a pianoforte, but having metal bars instead of strings.

Metallophone (n.) An instrument like the xylophone, but having metallic instead of wooden bars.

Metate (n.) A flat or somewhat hollowed stone upon which grain or other food is ground, by means of a smaller stone or pestle.

Methanometer (n.) An instrument, resembling a eudiometer, to detect the presence and amount of methane, as in coal mines.

Metol (n.) A whitish soluble powder used as a developer in photography. Chemically, it is the sulphate of methyl-p-amino-m-cresol.

Meum (n.) Lit., mine; that which is mine; -- used in the phrase meum et tuum, or meum and tuum; as, to confound meum and tuum, to fail to distinguish one's own property from that of others; to be dishonest.

Mezza majolica () Italian pottery of the epoch and general character of majolica, but less brilliantly decorated, esp. such pottery without tin enamel, but painted and glazed.

Mezzanine (n.) A flooring laid over a floor to bring it up to some height or level.

Mezzanine (n.) A floor under the stage, from which various contrivances, as traps, are worked.

Microanalysis (n.) Analysis of the structure of materials from careful observation of photomicrographs.

Microbarograph (n.) An instrument for recording minor fluctuations of atmospheric pressure, as opposed to general barometric surges.

Microbiology (n.) The study of minute organisms, or microbes, as the bacteria.

Micrography (n.) Examination or study by means of the microscope, as of an etched surface of metal to determine its structure.

Microphonic (a.) Of or pert. to a microphone; serving to intensify weak sounds.

Microseism (n.) A feeble earth tremor not directly perceptible, but detected only by means of specially constructed apparatus.

Microseismograph (n.) A microseismometer; specif., a microseismometer producing a graphic record.

Microseismometer (n.) A seismometer for measuring amplitudes or periods, or both, of microseisms.

Microtomical (a.) Of or pert. to the microtome or microtomy; cutting thin slices.

Mithgarthr () The middle space or region between heaven and hell, the abode of human beings; the earth.

Midnight sun () The sun shining at midnight in the arctic or antarctic summer.

Milady (n.) Lit., my lady; hence (as used on the Continent), an English noblewoman or gentlewoman.

Milk (v. i.) To give off small gas bubbles during the final part of the charging operation; -- said of a storage battery.

Milk sickness () A peculiar malignant disease, occurring in parts of the western United States, and affecting certain kinds of farm stock (esp. cows), and persons using the meat or dairy products of infected cattle. Its chief symptoms in man are uncontrollable vomiting, obstinate constipation, pain, and muscular tremors. Its origin in cattle has been variously ascribed to the presence of certain plants in their food, and to polluted water.

Mill (n.) The raised or ridged edge or surface made in milling anything, as a coin or screw.

Mill (v. t.) To fill (a winze or interior incline) with broken ore, to be drawn out at the bottom.

Millimicron (n.) The thousandish part of a micron or the millionth part of a millimeter; -- a unit of length used in measuring light waves, etc.

Milord (n.) Lit., my lord; hence (as used on the Continent), an English nobleman or gentleman.

Minimal (a.) Of, pertaining to, or having a character of, a minim or minimum; least; smallest; as, a minimal amount or value.

Minorat (a.) A custom or right, analogous to borough-English in England, formerly existing in various parts of Europe, and surviving in parts of Germany and Austria, by which certain entailed estates, as a homestead and adjacent land, descend to the youngest male heir.

Mirliton (n.) A kind of musical toy into which one sings, hums, or speaks, producing a coarse, reedy sound.

Miryachit (n.) A nervous disease in which the patient involuntarily imitates the words or action of another.

Mitis casting () A process, invented by P. Ostberg, for producing malleable iron castings by melting wrought iron, to which from 0.05 to 0.1 per cent of aluminium is added to lower the melting point, usually in a petroleum furnace, keeping the molten metal at the bubbling point until it becomes quiet, and then pouring the molten metal into a mold lined with a special mixture consisting essentially of molasses and ground burnt fire clay; also, a casting made by this process; -- called also wrought-iron casting.

Mitis metal () The malleable iron produced by mitis casting; -- called also simply mitis.

Mitotic (a.) Of or pertaining to mitosis; karyokinetic; as, mitotic cell division; -- opposed to amitotic.

Mixer (n.) A person who has social intercourse with others of many sorts; a person viewed as to his casual sociability; -- commonly used with some characterizing adjective; as, a good mixer; a bad mixer.

Moabite stone () A block of black basalt, found at Dibon in Moab by Rev. F. A. Klein, Aug. 19, 1868, which bears an inscription of thirty-four lines, dating from the 9th century b. c., and written in the Moabite alphabet, the oldest Phoenician type of the Semitic alphabet. It records the victories of Mesha, king of Moab, esp. those over Israel (2 Kings iii. 4, 5, 27).

Modernism (n.) Certain methods and tendencies which, in Biblical questions, apologetics, and the theory of dogma, in the endeavor to reconcile the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church with the conclusions of modern science, replace the authority of the church by purely subjective criteria; -- so called officially by Pope Pius X.

Modernist (n.) An advocate of the teaching of modern subjects, as modern languages, in preference to the ancient classics.

Modiste (n.) One, esp. woman, who makes, or deals in, articles of fashion, esp. of the fashionable dress of ladies; a dress-maker or milliner.

Modus vivendi () Mods, or manner, of living; hence, a temporary arrangement of affairs until disputed matters can be settled.

Mohammedan calendar () A lunar calendar reckoning from the year of the hegira, 622 a. d. Thirty of its years constitute a cycle, of which the 2d, 5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th, and 29th are leap years, having 355 days; the others are common, having 354 days.

Mohammedan Era () The era in use in Mohammedan countries. See Mohammedan year, below.

Mohammedan year () The year used by Mohammedans, consisting of twelve lunar months without intercalation, so that they retrograde through all the seasons in about 32/ years. The Mohammedan era begins with the year 622 a.d., the first day of the Mohammedan year 1332 begin Nov. 30, 1913, acording to the Gregorian calendar.

Moire (a.) Watered; having a watered or clouded appearance; -- as of silk or metals.

Moire (n.) A watered, clouded, or frosted appearance on textile fabrics or metallic surfaces.

Mojarra (n.) Any of certain basslike marine fishes (mostly of tropical seas, and having a deep, compressed body, protracile mouth, and large silvery scales) constituting the family Gerridae, as Gerres plumieri, found from Florida to Brazil and used as food. Also, any of numerous other fishes of similar appearance but belonging to other families.

Mon (n.) The badge of a family, esp. of a family of the ancient feudal nobility. The most frequent form of the mon is circular, and it commonly consists of conventionalized forms from nature, flowers, birds, insects, the lightnings, the waves of the sea, or of geometrical symbolic figures; color is only a secondary character. It appears on lacquer and pottery, and embroidered on, or woven in, fabrics. The imperial chrysanthemum, the mon of the reigning family, is used as a national emblem. Formerly the mon of the shoguns of the Tokugawa family was so used.

Moniliales (n. pl.) The largest of the three orders into which the Fungi Imperfecti are divided, including various forms.

Monism (n.) The doctrine that the universe is an organized unitary being or total self-inclusive structure.

Monitor nozzle () A nozzle capable of turning completely round in a horizontal plane and having a limited play in a vertical plane, used in hydraulic mining, fire-extinguishing apparatus, etc.

-rid () A simple sugar; any of a number of sugars (including the trioses, tetroses, pentoses, hexoses, etc.), not decomposable into simpler sugars by hydrolysis. Specif., as used by some, a hexose. The monosaccharides are all open-chain compounds containing hydroxyl groups and either an aldehyde group or a ketone group.

Monotype (n.) The only representative of its group, as a single species constituting a genus.

Monotype (n.) A print (but one impression can be taken) made by painting on metal and then transferring the painting to paper by pressure; also, the process of making such prints.

Monotype (n.) A kind of typesetting and casting machine that makes and sets individual types.

Monte (n.) In Spanish America, a wood; forest; timber land; esp., in parts of South America, a comparatively wooden region.

Monteith (n.) A kind of cotton handkerchief having a uniform colored ground with a regular pattern of white spots produced by discharging the color; -- so called from the Glasgow manufactures.

Monte-jus (n.) An apparatus for raising a liquid by pressure of air or steam in a reservoir containing the liquid.

Montessori Method () A system of training and instruction, primarily for use with normal children aged from three to six years, devised by Dr. Maria Montessori while teaching in the "Houses of Childhood" (schools in the poorest tenement districts of Rome, Italy), and first fully described by her in 1909. Leading features are freedom for physical activity (no stationary desks and chairs), informal and individual instruction, the very early development of writing, and an extended sensory and motor training (with special emphasis on vision, touch, perception of movement, and their interconnections), mediated by a patented, standardized system of "didactic apparatus," which is declared to be "auto-regulative." Most of the chief features of the method are borrowed from current methods used in many institutions for training feeble-minded children, and dating back especially to the work of the French-American physician Edouard O. Seguin (1812-80).

Montre (n.) A stop, usually the open diapason, having its pipes "shown" as part of the organ case, or otherwise specially mounted.

Montre (n.) A hole in the wall of a pottery kiln, by which the state of the pieces within can be judged.

Moonlighter (n.) In Ireland, one of a band that engaged in agrarian outrages by night.

Moonshine (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, illicit liquor; as, moonshine whisky.

Moratorium (n.) A period during which an obligor has a legal right to delay meeting an obligation, esp. such a period granted, as to a bank, by a moratory law.

Moratory (a.) Of or pertaining to delay; esp., designating a law passed, as in a time of financial panic, to postpone or delay for a period the time at which notes, bills of exchange, and other obligations, shall mature or become due.

Mores (n. pl.) Customs; habits; esp., customs conformity to which is more or less obligatory; customary law.

Morgan (n.) One of a celebrated breed of American trotting horses; -- so called from the name of the stud from which the breed originated in Vermont.

Mormon (n.) A member of a sect, called the Reorganized Church of Jesus of Latterday Saints, which has always rejected polygamy. It was organized in 1852, and is represented in about forty States and Territories of the United States.

Moron (n.) A person whose intellectual development proceeds normally up to about the eighth year of age and is then arrested so that there is little or no further development.

Moron (n.) An inferior olive size having a woody pulp and a large clingstone pit, growing in the mountainous and high-valley districts around the city of Moron, in Spain.

Moros (n. pl.) The Mohammedan tribes of the southern Philippine Islands, said to have formerly migrated from Borneo. Some of them are warlike and addicted to piracy.

Morris-chair (n.) A kind of easy-chair with a back which may be lowered or raised.

Morro (n.) A round hill or point of land; hence, Morro castle, a castle on a hill.

Morse code () The telegraphic code, consisting of dots, dashes, and spaces, invented by Samuel B. Morse. The Alphabetic code which is in use in North America is given below. In length, or duration, one dash is theoretically equal to three dots; the space between the elements of a letter is equal to one dot; the interval in spaced letters, as O . ., is equal to three dots. There are no spaces in any letter composed wholly or in part of dashes.

Mort (n.) A variety of dummy whist for three players; also, the exposed or dummy hand in this game.

Mosey (v. i.) To go, or move (in a certain manner); -- usually with out, off, along, etc.

Mother's Day () A day appointed for the honor and uplift of motherhood by the loving remembrance of each person of his mother through the performance of some act of kindness, visit, tribute, or letter. The founder of the day is Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia, who designated the second Sunday in May, or for schools the second Friday, as the time, and a white carnation as the badge.

Motif (n.) In literature and the fine arts, a salient feature or element of a composition or work; esp., the theme, or central or dominant feature; specif. (Music), a motive.

Motif (n.) A decorative applique design or figure, as of lace or velvet, used in trimming.

Motile (a.) Exhibiting, or capable of, spontaneous movement; as, motile cilia, motile spores, etc.

Motile (n.) A person whose prevailing mental imagery takes the form of inner feelings of action, such as incipient pronunciation of words, muscular innervations, etc.

Motograph (n.) A device utilized in the making of a loud-speaking telephone, depending on the fact that the friction between a metallic point and a moving cylinder of moistened chalk, or a moving slip of paper, on which it rests is diminished by the passage of a current between the point and the moving surface.

Motorcar (n.) An automobile, locomobile, or locomotive designed to run and be steered on a street or roadway; esp., an automobile specially designed for passengers.

Motorcycle (n.) A bicycle having a motor attached so as to be self-propelled. In Great Britain the term motor cycle is treated by statute (3 Ed VII. c. 36) as limited to motor cars (self-propelled vehicles) designed to travel on not more than three wheels, and weighing unladen (that is, without water, fuel, or accumulators necessary for propulsion) not more than three hundred weight (336 lbs.).

Motor-driven (a.) Driven or actuated by a motor, esp. by an individual electric motor. An electric motor forms an integral part of many machine tools in numerous modern machine shops.

Motor generator () The combination consisting of a generator and a driving motor mechanically connected, usually on a common bedplate and with the two shafts directly coupled or combined into a single shaft.

Motoring (n.) Act or recreation of riding in or driving a motor car or automobile.

Motoring (a.) Pertaining to motor cars or automobiles, or to the technology of such; addicted to riding in or driving automobiles; as, motoring parlance; my motoring friend.

Motorize (v. t.) To substitute motor-driven vehicles, or automobiles, for the horses and horse-drawn vehicles of (a fire department, city, etc.).

Mount (n.) Any one of seven fleshy prominences in the palm of the hand which are taken as significant of the influence of "planets," and called the mounts of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, the Sun or Apollo, and Venus.

Mountain specter () An optical phenomenon sometimes seen on the summit of mountains (as on the Brocken) when the observer is between the sun and a mass of cloud. The figures of the observer and surrounding objects are seen projected on the cloud, greatly enlarged and often encircled by rainbow colors.

Mousquetaire (n.) A musketeer, esp. one of the French royal musketeers of the 17th and 18th centuries, conspicuous both for their daring and their fine dress.

Mousquetaire (n.) A mosquetaire cuff or glove, or other article of dress fancied to resemble those worn by the French mosquetaires.

Mousse (n.) A frozen dessert of a frothy texture, made of sweetened and flavored whipped cream, sometimes with the addition of egg yolks and gelatin. Mousse differs from ice cream in being beaten before -- not during -- the freezing process.

Mousseline de soie () A soft thin silk fabric with a weave like that of muslin.

Movie (n.) A moving picture or a moving picture show; -- commonly used in pl.

Moving picture () A series of pictures, usually photographs taken with a special machine, presented to the eye in very rapid succession, with some or all of the objects in the picture represented in slightly changed positions, producing, by persistence of vision, the optical effect of a continuous picture in which the objects move in some manner, as that of some original scene. The usual form of moving pictures is that produced by the cinematograph.

Muck rake () A rake for scraping up muck or dung. See Muckrake, v. i., below.

Muckrake (v. i.) To seek for, expose, or charge, esp. habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on "The Man with the Muck Rake," in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muck"rake`, in the above sense, and the noun muck"rak`er (/), to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him.

Mucoid (n.) One of a class of mucinlike substances yielding on decomposition a reducing carbohydrate together with some form of proteid matter.

Mudsill (n.) Fig.: A person of the lowest stratum of society; -- a term of opprobrium or contempt.

Muffler (n.) Any of various devices to deaden the noise of escaping gases or vapors, as a tube filled with obstructions, through which the exhaust gases of an internal-combustion engine, as on an automobile, are passed (called also silencer).

Muggur () The common crocodile (Crocodilus palustris) of India, the East Indies, etc. It becomes twelve feet or more long.

Muggins (n.) A game of dominoes in which the object is to make the sum of the two ends of the line some multiple of five.

Muggins (n.) A game at cards which depends upon building in suits or matching exposed cards, the object being to get rid of one's cards.

Muggins (v. t.) In certain games, to score against, or take an advantage over (an opponent), as for an error, announcing the act by saying "muggins."

Mule killer () Any of several arthropods erroneously supposed to kill live stock, in the southern United States, by stinging or by being swallowed;

Multigraph (n.) A combined rotary type-setting and printing machine for office use. The type is transferred semi-automatically by means of keys from a type-supply drum to a printing drum. The printing may be done by means of an inked ribbon to print "typewritten" letters, or directly from inked type or a stereotype plate, as in a printing press.

Multiphase (a.) pertaining to, or designating, a generator producing, or any system conveying or utilizing, two or more waves of pressure, or electromotive force, not in phase with each other; polyphase.

Multiplane (a.) Having several or many planes or plane surfaces; as, a multiplane kite.

Multipolar (a.) Having many poles; in Anat., designating specif. a nerve cell which has several dendrites.

Multipolar (a.) Having, or pertaining to, many poles, as a field magnet or armature of a dynamo, or a dynamo having such a field magnet or (sometimes) armature.

Mumbo Jumbo (n.) Among the Mandingos of the western Sudan, a bugbear by means of which the women are terrified and disciplined by societies of the men, one of whom assumes a masquerade for the purpose; hence, loosely, any Negro idol, fetish, or bugaboo.

Mungo (n.) A material of short fiber and inferior quality obtained by deviling woolen rags or the remnants of woolen goods, specif. those of felted, milled, or hard-spun woolen cloth, as distinguished from shoddy, or the deviled product of loose-textured woolen goods or worsted, -- a distinction often disregarded.

Municipalize (v. t.) To bring under municipal oversight or control; as, a municipalized industry.

Muscle reading () The art of making discriminations between objects of choice, of discovering the whereabouts of hidden objects, etc., by inference from the involuntary movements of one whose hand the reader holds or with whom he is otherwise in muscular contact.

Mush (n.) A march on foot, esp. across the snow with dogs; as, he had a long mush before him; -- also used attributively.

Music drama () An opera in which the text and action are not interrupted by set arias, duets, etc., the music being determined throughout by dramatic appropriateness; musical drama of this character, in general. It involves the use of a kind of melodious declamation, the development of leitmotif, great orchestral elaboration, and a fusion of poetry, music, action, and scene into an organic whole. The term is applied esp. to the later works of Wagner: "Tristan und Isolde," "Die Meistersinger," "Rheingold," "Walkure," "Siegfried," "Gotterdammerung," and "Parsifal."

Music hall () A place for public musical entartainments; specif. (Eng.), esp. a public hall for vaudeville performances, in which smoking and drinking are usually allowed in the auditorium.

Must (n.) Being in a condition of dangerous frenzy, usually connected with sexual excitement; -- said of adult male elephants which become so at irregular intervals.

Mutation (n.) Gradual definitely tending variation, such as may be observed in a group of organisms in the fossils of successive geological levels.

Mutation (n.) As now employed (first by de Vries), a sudden variation (the offspring differing from its parents in some well-marked character or characters) as distinguished from a gradual variations in which the new characters become fully developed only in the course of many generations. The occurrence of mutations, and the hereditary transmission, under some conditions, of the characters so appearing, are well-established facts; whether the process has played an important part in the evolution of the existing species and other groups of organisms is a disputed question.

Mutation (n.) The result of the above process; a suddenly produced variation.

Mutessarif (n.) In Turkey, an administrative authority of any of certain sanjaks. They are appointed directly by the Sultan.

Mutoscope (n.) A simple form of moving-picture machine in which the series of views, exhibiting the successive phases of a scene, are printed on paper and mounted around the periphery of a wheel. The rotation of the wheel brings them rapidly into sight, one after another, and the blended effect gives a semblance of motion.

Mycetozoa (n. pl.) The Myxomycetes; -- so called by those who regard them as a class of animals.

Mykiss (n.) A salmon (Salmo mykiss, syn. S. purpuratus) marked with black spots and a red throat, found in most of the rivers from Alaska to the Colorado River, and in Siberia; -- called also black-spotted trout, cutthroat trout, and redthroat trout.

Myrmecophyte (n.) A plant that affords shelter and food to certain species of ants which live in symbiotic relations with it. Special adaptations for this purpose exist; thus, Acacia spadicigera has large hollows thorns, and species of Cecropia have stem cavities.

Myxoedema (n.) A disease producing a peculiar cretinoid appearance of the face, slow speech, and dullness of intellect, and due to failure of the functions of the thyroid gland.

Myxomycetes (n. pl.) A class of peculiar organisms, the slime molds, formerly regarded as animals (Mycetozoa), but now generally thought to be plants and often separated as a distinct phylum (Myxophyta). They are found on damp earth and decaying vegetable matter, and consist of naked masses of protoplasm, often of considerable size, which creep very slowly over the surface and ingest solid food.

Myxophyta (n. pl.) A phylum of the vegetable kingdom consisting of the class Myxomycetes. By some botanists it is not separated from the Thallophyta.

Nacelle (n.) The basket suspended from a balloon; hence, the framework forming the body of a dirigible balloon, and containing the machinery, passengers, etc.

Nacre (a.) Having the peculiar iridescence of nacre, or mother-of-pearl, or an iridescence resembling it; as, nacre ware.

Nanism (n.) The condition of being abnormally small in stature; dwarfishness; -- opposed to gigantism.

Napoleon (n.) A game in which each player holds five cards, the eldest hand stating the number of tricks he will bid to take, any subsequent player having the right to overbid him or a previous bidder, the highest bidder naming the trump and winning a number of points equal to his bid if he makes so many tricks, or losing the same number of points if he fails to make them.

Napoleon (n.) A bid to take five tricks at napoleon. It is ordinarily the highest bid; but sometimes bids are allowed of wellington, or of blucher, to take five tricks, or pay double, or treble, if unsuccessful.

Native steel () A sort of steel which has been found where a burning coal seam had reduced and carbonized adjacent iron ore.

Naturalism (n.) The theory that art or literature should conform to nature; realism; also, the quality, rendering, or expression of art or literature executed according to this theory.

Naturalism (n.) Specif., the principles and characteristics professed or represented by a 19th-century school of realistic writers, notably by Zola and Maupassant, who aimed to give a literal transcription of reality, and laid special stress on the analytic study of character, and on the scientific and experimental nature of their observation of life.

Natural steel () Steel made by the direct refining of cast iron in a finery, or, as wootz, by a direct process from the ore.

Nauheim treatment () Orig., a method of therapeutic treatment administered, esp. for chronic diseases of the curculatory system, at Bad Nauheim, Germany, by G. Schott, consisting in baths in the natural mineral waters of that place, which are charged with carbonic acid, and the use of a graduated course of rest, physical exercises, massage, etc.; hence, any similar treatment using waters artificially charged with the essential ingredients of the natural mineral waters of Bad Nauheim. Hence, Nauheim bath, etc.

Navel orange () A type of orange in which the fruit incloses a small secondary fruit, the rind showing on the exterior a navel-like pit or depression at the apex. There are several varieties; they are usually seedless, or nearly so, and are much grown in California.

Neanderthal (a.) Of, pertaining to, or named from, the Neanderthal, a valley in the Rhine Province, in which were found parts of a skeleton of an early type of man. The skull is characterized by extreme dolichocephaly, flat, retreating forehead, with closed frontal sutures, and enormous superciliary ridges. The cranial capacity is estimated at about 1,220 cubic centimeters, being about midway between that of the Pithecanthropus and modern man. Hence, designating the Neanderthal race, / man, a species supposed to have been widespread in paleolithic Europe.

Neanderthaloid (a.) Like, or pertaining to, the Neanderthal skull, or the type of man it represents.

Neapolitan ice cream () An ice or ice cream containing eggs as well as cream.

Neapolitan ice cream () An ice or ice cream prepared in layers, as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream, and orange or lemon water ice.

Necrotomy (n.) The dissection of dead bodies; also, excision of necrosed bone.

Ne'er-do-well (n.) A person who never does, or fares, well; a good for nothing.

Negrohead (n.) An inferior commercial variety of India rubber made up into round masses.

Negroid (n.) A member of any one of several East African tribes whose physical characters show an admixture with other races.

Neoclassic (a.) Belonging to, or designating, the modern revival of classical, esp. Greco-Roman, taste and manner of work in architecture, etc.

Neoclassic architecture () All that architecture which, since the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, about 1420, has been designed with deliberate imitation of Greco-Roman buildings.

Neocriticism (n.) The form of Neo-Kantianism developed by French idealists, following C. Renouvier. It rejects the noumena of Kant, restricting knowledge to phenomena as constituted by a priori categories.

Neo-Darwinism (n.) The theory which holds natural selection, as explained by Darwin, to be the chief factor in the evolution of plants and animals, and denies the inheritance of acquired characters; -- esp. opposed to Neo-Lamarckism. Weismannism is an example of extreme Neo-Darwinism.

Neodymium (n.) A rare metallic element occurring in combination with cerium, lanthanum, and other rare metals, and forming amethyst-colored salts. It was separated in 1885 by von Welsbach from praseodymium, the two having previously been regarded as a single element (didymium). It is chiefly trivalent. Symbol Nd; at. wt. 144.3.

Neogrammarian (n.) One of a group of philologists who apply phonetic laws more widely and strictly than was formerly done, and who maintain that these laws admit of no real exceptions.

Neo-Greek (n.) A member of a body of French painters (F. les neo-Grecs) of the middle 19th century. The term is rather one applied by outsiders to certain artists of grave and refined style, such as Hamon and Aubert, than a name adopted by the artists themselves.

Neo-Hebraic (a.) Of, pert. to, or designating, modern Hebrew, or Hebrew of later date than the Biblical.

Neo-Hegelianism (n.) The philosophy of a school of British and American idealists who follow Hegel in dialectical or logical method and in the general outcome of their doctrine. The founders and leaders of Neo-Hegelianism include: in England, T. H. Green (1836-1882); in Scotland, J. (1820-98) and E. (1835-1908) Caird; in the United States, W. T. Harris (1835-1909) and Josiah Royce (1855- -).

Neo-Hellenism (n.) Hellenism as surviving or revival in modern times; the practice or pursuit of ancient Greek ideals in modern life, art, or literature, as in the Renaissance.

Neoimpressionism (n.) A theory or practice which is a further development, on more rigorously scientific lines, of the theory and practice of Impressionism, originated by George Seurat (1859-91), and carried on by Paul Signac (1863- -) and others. Its method is marked by the laying of pure primary colors in minute dots upon a white ground, any given line being produced by a variation in the proportionate quantity of the primary colors employed. This method is also known as Pointillism (stippling).

Neo-Kantianism (n.) The philosophy of modern thinkers who follow Kant in his general theory of knowledge, esp. of a group of German philosophers including F. A. Lange, H. Cohen, Paul Natorp, and others.

Neo-Lamarckism (n.) Lamarckism as revived, modified, and expounded by recent biologists, esp. as maintaining that the offspring inherits characters acquired by the parent from change of environment, use or disuse of parts, etc.; -- opposed of Neo-Darwinism (which see, above).

Neo-Malthusian (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, a group of modern economists who hold to the Malthusianism doctrine that permanent betterment of the general standard of living is impossible without decrease of competition by limitation of the number of births.

Neo-Scholasticism (n.) The modern revival of the Scholastic philosophy, esp. of that of Thomas Aquinas, with critical revision to suit the exigencies of the general advance in learning. The Neo-Scholastic movement received a great impetus from Leo XIII.'s interest in it.

Ne plus ultra () The uttermost point to which one can go or attain; hence, the summit of achievement; the highest point or degree; the acme.

Ne plus ultra () A prohibition against proceeding further; an insuperable obstacle or limiting condition.

Nerka (n.) The most important salmon of Alaska (Oncorhinchus nerka), ascending in spring most rivers and lakes from Alaska to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; -- called also red salmon, redfish, blueback, and sawqui.

Nero-antico (n.) A beautiful black marble found in fragments among Roman ruins, and usually thought to have come from ancient Laconia.

Ne Temere () A decree of the Congregation of the Council declaring invalid [so far as the laws of the Roman Catholic Church are concerned] any marriage of a Roman Catholic, or of a person who has ever been a Roman Catholic, if not contracted before a duty qualified priest (or the bishop of the diocese) and at least two witnesses. The decree was issued Aug. 2, 1907, and took effect on Easter Apr. 19, 1908. The decree by its terms does not affect mixed marriages (those between Roman Catholics and persons of another faith) in Germany.

Netsuke (n.) In Japanese costume and decorative art, a small object carved in wood, ivory, bone, or horn, or wrought in metal, and pierced with holes for cords by which it is connected, for convenience, with the inro, the smoking pouch (tabako-ire), and similar objects carried in the girdle. It is now much used on purses sold in Europe and America.

Neufchatel (n.) A kind of soft sweet-milk cheese; -- so called from Neufchatel-en-Bray in France.

Neutrophil (n.) One of a group of leucocytes whose granules stain only with neutral dyes.

New Thought () Any form of belief in mental healing other than (1) Christian Science and (2) hypnotism or psychotherapy. Its central principle is affirmative thought, or suggestion, employed with the conviction that man produces changes in his health, his finances, and his life by the adoption of a favorable mental attitude. AS a therapeutic doctrine it stands for silent and absent mental treatment, and the theory that all diseases are mental in origin. As a cult it has its unifying idea the inculcation of workable optimism in contrast with the "old thought" of sin, evil, predestination, and pessimistic resignation. The term is essentially synonymous with the term High Thought, used in England.

Nibelungenlied (n.) A great medieval German epic of unknown authorship containing traditions which refer to the Burgundians at the time of Attila (called Etzel in the poem) and mythological elements pointing to heathen times.

Nibelungs (n. pl.) In German mythology, the children of the mist, a race of dwarfs or demonic beings, the original possessors of the famous hoard and ring won by Siegfrid; also, the Burgundian kings in the Nibelungenlied.

Nickelodeon (n.) A place of entertainment, as for moving picture exhibition, charging a fee or admission price of five cents.

Nickel steel () A kind of cast steel containing nickel, which greatly increases its strength. It is used for armor plate, bicycle tubing, propeller shafts, etc.

Nicotinism (n.) The morbid condition produced by the excessive use of tobacco.

Niello (n.) An impression on paper taken from the engraved or incised surface before the niello alloy has been inlaid.

Niepce's process () A process, now no longer used, invented by J. N. Niepce, a French chemist, in 1829. It depends upon the action of light in rendering a thin layer of bitumen, with which the plate is coated, insoluble.

Niggerhead (n.) A strong black chewing tobacco, usually in twisted plug form; negro head.

Niggle (v. i.) To be finicky or excessively critical; to potter; esp., to work with excessive care for trifling details, as in painting.

Niggling (n.) minute and very careful workmanship in drawing, painting, or the like, esp. when bestowed on unimportant detail.

Night terrors () A sudden awkening associated with a sensation of terror, occurring in children, esp. those of unstable nervous constitution.

Nigritic (a.) Pertaining to, or having the characteristics of, negroes, or of the Negritos, Papuans, and the Melanesian races; negritic.

Nisus (n.) The periodic procreative desire manifested in the spring by birds, etc.

Nisus (n.) The contraction of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles to evacuate feces or urine.

Nixie () A piece of mail matter which cannot be delivered, either because no post office exists at the place to which is it addressed, or because there is no place of the name mentioned in the designated State, Territory, or the like.

Nizam (n.) A regular soldier of the Turkish army. See Army organization, above.

Nobel prizes () Prizes for the encouragement of men and women who work for the interests of humanity, established by the will of A. B. Nobel (1833-96), the Swedish inventor of dynamite, who left his entire estate for this purpose. They are awarded yearly for what is regarded as the most important work during the year in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, idealistic literature, and service in the interest of peace. The prizes, averaging $40,000 each, were first awarded in 1901.

Nobert's lines () Fine lines ruled on glass in a series of groups of different closeness of line, and used to test the power of a microscope.

Nobili's rings () Colored rings formed upon a metal plate by the electrolytic disposition of copper, lead peroxide, etc. They may be produced by touching with a pointed zinc rod a silver plate on which is a solution of copper sulphate.

Noil (n.) A short or waste piece or knot of wool separated from the longer staple by combing; also, a similar piece or shred of waste silk.

Nonmoral (a.) Not moral nor immoral; having no connection with morals; not in the sphere of morals or ethics; not ethical.

Nonunion (a.) Not belonging to, or affiliated with, a trades union; as, a nonunoin carpenter.

Nonunion (a.) Not recognizing or favoring trades unions or trades-unionists; as, a nonunion contractor.

Norfolk jacket () A kind of loose-fitting plaited jacket, having a loose belt.

Norfolk spaniel () One of a breed of field spaniels similar to the clumbers, but shorter in body and of a liver-and-white or black-and-white color.

Nose (v. t.) To make by advancing the nose or front end; as, the train nosed its way into the statio;

Nosophen (n.) An iodine compound obtained as a yellowish gray, odorless, tasteless powder by the action of iodine on phenolphthalein.

Nous (n.) The reason; the highest intellect; God regarded as the World Reason.

Nova (n.) A new star, usually appearing suddenly, shining for a brief period, and then sinking into obscurity. Such appearances are supposed to result from cosmic collisions, as of a dark star with interstellar nebulosities.

Noyade (n.) A drowning of many persons at once, -- a method of execution practiced at Nantes in France during the Reign of Terror, by Jean Baptiste Carrier.

Nullah (n.) A water course, esp. a dry one; a gully; a gorge; -- orig. an East Indian term.

Nunatak (n.) In Greenland, an insular hill or mountain surrounded by an ice sheet.

Nunc dimittis () The song of Simeon (Luke ii. 29-32), used in the ritual of many churches. It begins with these words in the Vulgate.

Nyctitropism (n.) The tendency of certain plant organs, as leaves, to assume special "sleeping" positions or make curvatures under the influence of darkness. It is well illustrated in the leaflets of clover and other leguminous plants.

Observation car () A railway passenger car made so as to facilitate seeing the scenery en route; a car open, or with glass sides, or with a kind of open balcony at the rear.

Obtain (v. i.) To gain or have a firm footing; to become recognized or established; to become or be prevalent or general; as, the custom obtains of going to the seashore in summer.

Obturate (v. t.) to stop (a gun breech) so as to prevent the escape of gas in firing.

Obturator (n.) Any device for preventing the escape of gas through the breech mechanism of a breech-loading gun; a gas check.

Odal (n.) Among the early and medieval Teutonic peoples, esp. Scandinavians, the heritable land held by the various odalmen constituting a family or kindred of freeborn tribesmen; also, the ownership of such land. The odal was subject only to certain rights of the family or kindred in restricting the freedom of transfer or sale and giving certain rights of redemption in case of change of ownership by inheritance, etc., and perhaps to other rights of the kindred or the tribe. Survivals of the early odal estates and tenure exist in Orkney and Shetland, where it is usually called by the variant form udal.

Odalwoman (n.) A man or woman having odal, or able to share in it by inheritance.

Oddment (n.) An odd thing, or one that is left over, disconnected, fragmentary, or the like; something that is separated or disconnected from its fellows;

Oddment (n.) the odds and ends. Specif.: (Printing) Any separate small part or page in a book, other than the text, such as the title page, contents, etc.

Odelsthing (n.) The lower house of the Norwegian Storthing. See Legislature.

Odograph (n.) A machine for registering the distance traversed by a vehicle or pedestrain.

Odograph (n.) A device for recording the length and rapidity of stride and the number of steps taken by a walker.

Odometer (n.) An instrument attached to a vehicle, to measure the distance traversed; also, a wheel used by surveyors, which registers the miles and rods traversed.

Oeil-de-boeuf (n.) A circular or oval window; -- generally used of architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries. A famous room in the palace of Versailles bears this name, from the oval window opening into it.

Oeil-de-perdrix (a.) Characterized by, or decorated with, small round points, spots, or rings; as, oeil-de-perdrix pattern.

Oeil-de-perdrix (a.) Having a brownish red color; -- used esp. of light-colored red wine.

Oersted (n.) The C.G.S. unit of magnetic reluctance or resistance, equal to the reluctance of a centimeter cube of air (or vacuum) between parallel faces. Also, a reluctance in which unit magnetomotive force sets up unit flux.

Office wire () Copper wire with a strong but light insulation, used in wiring houses, etc.

Offprint (v. t.) To reprint (as an excerpt); as, the articles of some magazines are offprinted from other magazines.

Offtake (n.) Act of taking off; specif., the taking off or purchase of goods.

Offtake (n.) A channel for taking away air or water; also, the point of beginning of such a channel; a take-off.

Okapi (n.) A peculiar mammal (Okapia johnostoni) closely related to the giraffe, discovered in the deep forests of Belgian Kongo in 1900. It is smaller than an ox, and somewhat like a giraffe, except that the neck is much shorter. Like the giraffe, it has no dewclaws. There is a small prominence on each frontal bone of the male. The color of the body is chiefly reddish chestnut, the cheeks are yellowish white, and the fore and hind legs above the knees and the haunches are striped with purplish black and cream color.

Okra (n.) The pods of the plant okra, used as a vegetable; also, a dish prepared with them; gumbo.

Old Dominion () Virginia; -- a name of uncertain origin, perh. from the old designation of the colony as "the Colony and Dominion of Virginia."

Old Line State () Maryland; a nickname, alluding to the fact that its northern boundary in Mason and Dixon's line.

Oleography (n.) Art or process of producing the pictures known as oleographs.

Oleo oil () An oil expressed from certain animal fats (esp. beef suet), the greater portion of the solid fat, or stearin, being left behind. It is mixture of olein, palmitin, and a little stearin.

Olympiad (n.) The quadrennial celebration of the modern Olympic games; as, the first Olympiad (1906).

Olympianism (n.) Worship of the Olympian gods, esp. as a dominant cult or religion.

games () A modified revival of the ancient Olympian games, consisting of international athletic games, races, etc., now held once in four years, the first having been at Athens in 1896.

Om (interj. & n.) A mystic syllable or ejaculation used by Hindus and Buddhists in religious rites, -- orig. among the Hindus an exclamation of assent, like Amen, then an invocation, and later a symbol of the trinity formed by Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma.

Omicron (n.) Lit., the little, or short, O, o; the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet.

Oncost (n.) In cost accounting, expenditure which is involved in the process of manufacture or the performance of work and which cannot be charged directly to any particular article manufactured or work done (as where different kinds of goods are produced), but must be allocated so that each kind of goods or work shall bear its proper share.

Ondograph (n.) An instrument for autographically recording the wave forms of varying currents, esp. rapidly varying alternating currents.

Ondoyant (a.) Wavy; having the surface marked by waves or slightly depressed furrows; as, ondoyant glass.

Ooze (n.) A soft deposit covering large areas of the ocean bottom, composed largely or mainly of the shells or other hard parts of minute organisms, as Foraminifera, Radiolaria, and diatoms. The radiolarian ooze occurring in many places in very deep water is composed mainly of the siliceous skeletons of radiolarians, calcareous matter being dissolved by the lage percentage of carbon dioxide in the water at these depths.

Ooze leather () Leather made from sheep and calf skins by mechanically forcing ooze through them; esp., such leather with a soft, finely granulated finish (called sometimes velvet finish) put on the flesh side for special purposes. Ordinary ooze leather is used for shoe uppers, in bookbinding, etc. Hence Ooze calf, Ooze finish, etc.

Open door () Open or free admission to all; hospitable welcome; free opportunity.

Open door () In modern diplomacy, opportunity for political and commercial intercourse open to all upon equal terms, esp. with reference to a nation whose policy is wholly or partially fixed by nations foreign to itself, or to territory newly acquired by a conquering nation. In this sense, often used adjectively, as, open-door system, open-door policy, etc.

Open verdict () A verdict on a preliminary investigation, finding the fact of a crime but not stating the criminal, or finding the fact of a violent death without disclosing the cause.

Optometry (n.) Measurement of the range of vision, esp. by means of the optometer.

Optometry (n.) As defined (with minor variations) in the statutes of various States of the United States:

Optometry (n.) "The employment of subjective and objective mechanical means to determine the accomodative and refractive states of the eye and the scope of its function in general."

Optometry (n.) "The employment of any means, other than the use of drugs, for the measurement of the powers of vision and adaptation of lenses for the aid thereof."

Orient (v. t.) To place (a map or chart) so that its east side, north side, etc., lie toward the corresponding parts of the horizon;

Orient (v. t.) to rotate (a map attached to a plane table) until the line of direction between any two of its points is parallel to the corresponding direction in nature.

Ahura-Mazda (n.) The supreme deity, the principle of good, creator of the world, and guardian of mankind. He is the opponent of Ahriman, the spirit of evil, both being sprung from Eternity, or, according to another version, Ahriman being the offspring of a moment of doubt on the part of Ormazd. Ormazd is attended by angels and archangels. He is represented as a bearded man inclosed in a winged circle, a conception probably derived from the Assyrian representations of Ashur.

Orograph (n.) A machine for use in making topographical maps. It is operated by being pushed across country, and not only records distances, like the perambulator, but also elevations.

Oroheliograph (n.) A camera for obtaining a circular panoramic view of the horizon. The photographic plate is placed horizontally with a vertical lens above. A mirror of peculiar shape reflects light from the entire horizon to the lens, by means of which it is focused upon the plate.

Orometer (n.) An aneroid barometer having a second scale that gives the approximate elevation above sea level of the place where the observation is made.

Orthograph (n.) An orthographic projection, sometimes partly in section, esp. of a building.

Oscillator (n.) Any device for producing electric oscillations; esp., an apparatus for generating electric waves in a system of wireless telegraphy.

Oscillator (n.) An instrument for measuring rigidity by the torsional oscillations of a weighted wire.

Oscillograph (n.) An apparatus for recording or indicating alternating-current wave forms or other electrical oscillations, usually consisting of a galvanometer with strong field, in which the mass of the moving part is very small and frequency of vibration very high.

Oscillometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the angle through which a ship rolls or pitches at sea.

Oscilloscope (n.) An instrument for showing visually the changes in a varying current; an oscillograph.

Osmogene (n.) An apparatus, consisting of a number of cells whose sides are of parchment paper, for conducting the process of osmosis. It is used esp. in sugar refining to remove potassium salts from the molasses.

Osmograph (n.) An instrument for recording the height of the liquid in an endosmometer or for registering osmotic pressures.

Osteopathy (n.) A system of treatment based on the theory that diseases are chiefly due to deranged mechanism of the bones, nerves, blood vessels, and other tissues, and can be remedied by manipulations of these parts.

Osteoporosis (n.) An absorption of bone so that the tissue becomes unusually porous.

Ottava rima () A stanza of eight lines of heroic verse, with three rhymes, the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet. It was used by Byron in "Don Juan," by Keats in "Isabella," by Shelley in "The Witch of Atlas," etc.

Otto cycle () A four-stroke cycle for internal-combustion engines consisting of the following operations: First stroke, suction into cylinder of explosive charge, as of gas and air; second stroke, compression, ignition, and explosion of this charge; third stroke (the working stroke), expansion of the gases; fourth stroke, expulsion of the products of combustion from the cylinder. This is the cycle invented by Beau de Rochas in 1862 and applied by Dr. Otto in 1877 in the Otto-Crossley gas engine, the first commercially successful internal-combustion engine made.

Ouananiche (n.) A small landlocked variety of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar ounaniche) of Lake St. John, Canada, and neighboring waters, noted for its vigor and activity, and habit of leaping from the water when hooked.

Outpension (n.) A public pension granted to one not required to live in a charitable institution.

Outre (a.) Out of the common course or limits; extravagant; bizarre; as, an outre costume.

Outrigger (n.) A projecting frame used to support the elevator or tail planes, etc.

Overcast (v. t.) To fasten, as single sheets, by overcast stitching or by folding one edge over another.

Overdevelop (v. t.) to subject (a plate or film) too long to the developing process.

Overexpose (v. t.) to subject (a plate or film) too long to the actinic action of the light used in producing a picture.

Overglaze (a.) Applied over the glaze; -- said of enamel paintings, which sometimes are seen to project from the surface of the ware.

Overglaze (a.) Suitable for applying upon the glaze; -- said of vitrifiable colors used in ceramic decoration.

expenses () Those general charges or expenses in any business which cannot be charged up as belonging exclusively to any particular part of the work or product, as where different kinds of goods are made, or where there are different departments in a business; -- called also fixed, establishment, or (in a manufacturing business) administration, selling, and distribution, charges, etc.

Overman (n.) One in authority over others; a chief; usually, an overseer or boss.

Overman (n.) In the philosophy of Nietzsche, a man of superior physique and powers capable of dominating others; one fitted to survive in an egoistic struggle for the mastery.

Overshot (a.) Having the upper teeth projecting beyond the lower; -- said of the jaws of some dogs.

Overwear (n.) Clothing worn over the ordinary indoor closing, as overcoats, wraps, etc.

Ovism (n.) The old theory that the egg contains the whole embryo of the future organism and the germs of all subsequent offsprings and is merely awakened to activity by the spermatozoon; -- opposed to spermism or animalculism.

Oxyhydrogen (a.) Of, pertaining to, or consisting of, a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen at over 5000¡ F.

Oxyhydrogen light () A light produced by the incandescence of some substances, esp. lime, in the oxyhydrogen flame. Coal gas (producing the oxygas light), or the vapor of ether (oxyether light) or methylated spirit (oxyspirit light), may be substituted for hydrogen.

Ozone paper () Paper coated with starch and potassium iodine. It turns blue when exposed to ozone.

Parchisi () A game adopted from the Indian game, using disks, as of pasteboard, and dice.

Pachuca tank () A high and narrow tank, with a central cylinder for the introduction of compressed air, used in the agitation and settling of pulp (pulverized ore and water) during treatment by the cyanide process; -- so named because, though originally devised in New Zealand, it was first practically introduced in Pachuca, Mexico.

Pacifico (n.) A peaceful person; -- applied specif. by the Spaniards to the natives in Cuba and the Philippine Islands who did not oppose the Spanish arms.

Pack (n.) In hydropathic practice, a wrapping of blankets or sheets called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the condition of the blankets or sheets used, put about a patient to give him treatment; also, the fact or condition of being so treated.

Pack (n.) The forwards who compose one half of the scrummage; also, the scrummage.

Packer (n.) A ring of packing or a special device to render gas-tight and water-tight the space between the tubing and bore of an oil well.

Pad elephant () An elephant that is furnished with a pad for carrying burdens instead of with a howdah for carrying passengers.

Padre (n.) A Christian priest or monk; -- used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Spanish America.

Padre (n.) In India (from the Portuguese), any Christian minister; also, a priest of the native region.

Pagoda sleeve () A funnel-shaped sleeve arranged to show the sleeve lining and an inner sleeve.

Paillon (n.) A thin leaf of metal, as for use in gilding or enameling, or to show through a translucent medium.

Pajamas (n. pl.) Originally, in India, loose drawers or trousers, such as those worn, tied about the waist, by Mohammedan men and women; by extension, a similar garment adopted among Europeans, Americans, etc., for wear in the dressing room and during sleep; also, a suit consisting of drawers and a loose upper garment for such wear.

Palisade (n.) A line of bold cliffs, esp. one showing basaltic columns; -- usually in pl., and orig. used as the name of the cliffs on the west bank of the lower Hudson.

Palmer (n.) Short for Palmer fly, an artificial fly made to imitate a hairy caterpillar; a hackle.

Palmetto flag () Any of several flags adopted by South California after its secession. That adopted in November, 1860, had a green cabbage palmetto in the center of a white field; the final one, January, 1861, had a white palmetto in the center of a blue field and a white crescent in the upper left-hand corner.

Palmetto State () South California; -- a nickname alluding to the State Arms, which contain a representation of a palmetto tree.

Palo blanco () A western American hackberry (Celtis reticulata), having light-colored bark.

Palo blanco () A Mexican mimosaceous tree (Lysiloma candida), the bark of which is used in tanning.

Palolo worm () A polystome worm (Palolo viridis) that burrows in the coral reefs of certain of the Pacific Islands. A little before the last quarter of the moon in October and November, they swarm in vast numbers at the surface of the sea for breeding, and are gathered and highly esteemed as food by the natives. An allied species inhabits the tropical Atlantic and swarms in June or July.

Pan-American Congress () Any of several meetings of delegates from various American states; esp.: (a) One held in 1889-90 in the United States, at which all the independent states except Santo Domingo were represented and of which the practical result was the establishment of the Bureau of American Republics for the promotion of trade relations. (b) One held in Mexico in 1901-1902. (c) One held at Rio de Janeiro in 1906.

Pan-Americanism (n.) The principle or advocacy of a political alliance or union of all the states of America.

Panathenaea (n. pl.) The most ancient and important festival of Athens, celebrated in honor of Athena, the tutelary goddess of the city.

Panel (n.) A segment of an aeroplane wing. In a biplane the outer panel extends from the wing tip to the next row of posts, and is trussed by oblique stay wires.

Panhandle (n.) The handle of a pan; hence, fig., any arm or projection suggestive of the handle of a pan; as, the panhandle of West Virginia, Texas, or Idaho.

Panne (n.) A fabric resembling velvet, but having the nap flat and less close.

Panpsychism (n.) The theory that all nature is psychical or has a psychical aspect; the theory that every particle of matter has a psychical character or aspect.

Paprica () The dried ripened fruit of Capsicum annuum or various other species of pepper; also, the mildly pungent condiment prepared from it.

Par (n.) The number of strokes required for a hole or a round played without mistake, two strokes being allowed on each hole for putting. Par represents perfect play, whereas bogey makes allowance on some holes for human frailty. Thus if par for a course is 75, bogey is usually put down, arbitrarily, as 81 or 82.

Para (n.) The southern arm of the Amazon in Brazil; also, a seaport on this arm.

Para cress () An annual asteraceous herb (Spilances oleracea) grown in tropical countries as a pungent salad, and also used medicinally.

Paragenesis (n.) The formation of minerals in contact, so as to affect one another's development.

Paragenesis (n.) The order in which minerals occurring together in rocks and veins have developed.

Para grass () A tall rather coarse grass (Panicum molle) grown in the tropics for pasturage, and introduced into the southern United States.

Parakite (n.) A train or series of kites on one string and flying tandem, used for attaining great heights and for sending up instruments for meteorological observations or a man for military reconnoissance; also, a kite of such a train.

Paralgesia (n.) Disordered sensibility to pain, including absence of sensibility to pain, excessive sensibility to pain, and abnormal painful results of stimuli.

Parallel (n.) That arrangement of an electrical system in which all positive poles, electrodes, terminals, etc., are joined to one conductor, and all negative poles, etc., to another conductor; -- called also multiple. Opposed to series.

Parallel standards () Two or more metals coined without any attempt by the government to regulate their values.

Parallel sulcus () A sulcus parallel to, but some distance below, the horizontal limb of the fissure of Sylvius.

Paranoia (n.) A chronic form of insanity characterized by very gradual impairment of the intellect, systematized delusion, and usually by delusious of persecution or mandatory delusions producing homicidal tendency. In its mild form paranoia may consist in the well-marked crotchetiness exhibited in persons commonly called "cranks." Paranoiacs usually show evidences of bodily and nervous degeneration, and many have hallucinations, esp. of sight and hearing.

Paranoiac (a.) Of or pertaining to paranoia; affected with, or characteristic of, paranoia.

Para rubber () The caoutchouc obtained from the South American euphorbiaceous tree Hevea brasiliensis, hence called the Para rubber tree, from the Brazilian river and seaport named Para; also, the similar product of other species of Hevea. It is usually exported in flat round cakes, and is a chief variety of commercial India rubber.

Parashah (n.) A lesson from the Torah, or Law, from which at least one section is read in the Jewish synagogue on every Sabbath and festival.

Parcel post () That branch of the post office having to do with the collection, transmission, and delivery of parcels. The British Inland Parcel Post was established in 1883. The present rates, dating from 1897, are 3d. for parcels not exceeding one pound and 1d. for each additional pound up to the limit of 10 pounds. A general parcel post was established in the United States by Act of August 24, 1912, which took effect Jan. 1, 1913. Parcels must not exceed 11 pounds in weight nor 72 inches in length and girth combined. Provision is made from insuring parcels up to $50.00, and also for sending parcels C.O.D. The rates of postage vary with the distance. See Zone, below.

Parchmentize (v. t.) To convert to a parchmentlike substance, esp. by sulphuric acid.

Parfleche (n.) A kind of rawhide consisting of hide, esp. of the buffalo, which has been soaked in crude wood-ash lye to remove the hairs, and then dried.

Parfocal (a.) With the lower focal points all in the same plane; -- said of sets of eyepieces so mounted that they may be interchanged without varying the focus of the instrument (as a microscope or telescope) with which they are used.

Park (n.) Any place where vehicles are assembled according to a definite arrangement; also, the vehicles.

Park (v. t.) To bring together in a park, or compact body; as, to park artillery, wagons, automobiles, etc.

Park (v. i.) To promenade or drive in a park; also, of horses, to display style or gait on a park drive.

Parkee (n.) An outer garment made of the skins of birds or mammals, worn by Eskimos, etc.

Parnassian (n.) One of a school of French poets of the Second Empire (1852-70) who emphasized metrical form and made the little use of emotion as poetic material; -- so called from the name (Parnasse contemporain) of the volume in which their first poems were collected in 1866.

Parnellite (n.) One of the adherents of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91) in his advocacy of home rule for Ireland.

Parquet (n.) In various European public bourses, the railed-in space within which the "agents de change," or privileged brokers, conduct business; also, the business conducted by them; -- distinguished from the coulisse, or outside market.

Parquet (n.) In most European countries, the branch of the administrative government which is charged with the prevention, investigation, and punishment of crime, representing the public and not the individual injured.

Parquet circle () That part of the lower floor of a theater with seats at the rear of the parquet and beneath the galleries; -- called also, esp. in U. S., orchestra circle or parterre.

Parure (n.) An ornament or decoration for the person; esp., a decoration consisting of a set of ornaments to be used together; as, a parure of rubies or of embroideries.

Pass (n.) In football, hockey, etc., a transfer of the ball, etc., to another player of one's side, usually at some distance.

Pass (v. i.) In football, hockey, etc., to make pass; to transfer the ball, etc., to another player of one's own side.

Passementerie (n.) Trimmings, esp. of braids, cords, gimps, beads, or tinsel.

Passenger mile () A unit of measurement of the passenger transportation performed by a railroad during a given period, usually a year, the total of which consists of the sum of the miles traversed by all the passengers on the road in the period in question.

Passenger mileage () Passenger miles collectively; the total number of miles traveled by passengers on a railroad during a given period.

Passive flight () Flight, such as gliding and soaring, accomplished without the use of motive power.

Pasteurizer (n.) One that Pasteurizes, specif. an apparatus for heating and agitating, fluid.

Pasteur's fluid () An artificial nutrient fluid invented by Pasteur for the study of alcoholic fermentation, but used also for the cultivation of bacteria and other organisms. It contains all the elements of protoplasm, and was originally made of the ash of yeast, some ammonia compound, sugar, and water.

Paternoster (n.) An elevator of an inclined endless traveling chain or belt bearing buckets or shelves which ascend on one side loaded, and empty themselves at the top.

Patesi (n.) A religious as well as a secular designation applied to rulers of some of the city states of ancient Chaldea, as Lagash or Shirpurla, who were conceived to be direct representatives of the tutelary god of the place.

Pathological (a.) Morbid; due to disease; abnormal; as, pathological tissue; a pathological condition.

Pathology (n.) The condition of an organ, tissue, or fluid produced by disease.

Pathos (n.) The quality or character of those emotions, traits, or experiences which are personal, and therefore restricted and evanescent; transitory and idiosyncratic dispositions or feelings as distinguished from those which are universal and deep-seated in character; -- opposed to ethos.

Patio (n.) In Spain, Spanish America, etc., a court or courtyard of a house or other building; esp., an inner court open to the sky.

Patolli (n.) An American Indian game analogous to dice, probably originally a method of divination.

Patriots' Day () A legal holiday in the States of Massachusetts and Maine, April 19, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington in 1775. It was first observed in 1894.

Patter (n.) The language or oratory of a street peddler, conjurer, or the like, hence, glib talk; a voluble harangue; mere talk; chatter; also, specif., rapid speech, esp. as sometimes introduced in songs.

Pattern (n.) A diagram showing the distribution of the pellets of a shotgun on a vertical target perpendicular to the plane of fire.

Pattinson's process () A process of desilverizing argentiferous lead by repeated meltings and skimmings, which concentrate the silver in the molten bath, the final skimmings being nearly pure lad. The processwas invented in 1833 by Hugh Lee Pattinson, an English metallurgist.

Pax (n.) Friendship, or a friend; -- esp. in the phrases to make pax with, to make friends with, to be good pax, to be good friends; also, truce; -- used esp. interjectionally.

Pay Cerps () A staff corps in the United States navy, consisting of pay directors, pay inspectors, paymasters, passed assistant paymasters, and assistant paymasters, having relative rank from captain to ensign, respectively.

Paymaster-general () In the United States army, an officer of the rank of brigadier general, who commands the pay department, which is charged with the payment of the officers and men.

Paymaster-general () In the United States navy, the Chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, who has charge of the payment of officers and men and their clothing and subsistence. He has the rank of rear admiral.

Paymaster-general () In Great Britain, an officer of the Treasury who makes all payments and disbursements, civil as well as military. He is a member of the ministry, but not of the cabinet.

Payne's process () A process for preserving timber and rendering it incombustible by impregnating it successively with solutions of sulphate of iron and calcium chloride in vacuo.

Pay streak () The zone, parallel to the walls of a vein, in which the ore is concentrated, or any narrow streak of paying ore in less valuable material.

Peachblow (a.) Of the delicate purplish pink color likened to that of peach blooms; -- applied esp. to a Chinese porcelain, small specimens of which bring great prices in the Western countries.

Peacock Throne () A famous throne formerly of the kings of Delhi, India, but since 1739, when it was carried off by Nadir Shah, held by the shahs of Persia (later Iran); -- so called from its bearing a fully expanded peacock's tail done in gems.

Peag (n.) A kind of aboriginal shell money, or wampum, of the Atlantic coast of the United States; -- originally applied only to polished white cylindrical beads.

Peanut butter () A paste made by mixing ground fresh roasted peanuts with a small quantity of water or oil, and used chiefly as a relish on sandwiches, etc.

Pediatrics (n.) That branch of medical science which treats of the hygiene and diseases of children.

Pedigree clause () A clause sometimes inserted in contracts or specifications, requiring that a material of construction, as cement, must be of a brand that has stood the test of a specified number of years' use in an important public work.

Pedograph (n.) An instrument carried by a pedestrian for automatically making a topographical record of the ground covered during a journey.

Pedrail (n.) A device intended to replace the wheel of a self-propelled vehicle for use on rough roads and to approximate to the smoothness in running of a wheel on a metal track. The tread consists of a number of rubber shod feet which are connected by ball-and-socket joints to the ends of sliding spokes. Each spoke has attached to it a small roller which in its turn runs under a short pivoted rail controlled by a powerful set of springs. This arrangement permits the feet to accomodate themselves to obstacles even such as steps or stairs. The pedrail was invented by one B. J. Diplock of London, Eng.

Pedro (n.) A variety of auction pitch in which the five of trumps counts five.

Peep sight () An adjustable piece, pierced with a small hole to peep through in aiming, attached to a rifle or other firearm near the breech; -- distinguished from an open sight.

Peg (n.) A drink of spirits, usually whisky or brandy diluted with soda water.

Peignoir (n.) A woman's loose dressing sack; hence, a loose morning gown or wrapper.

Pele's hair () Glass threads or fibers formed by the wind from bits blown from frothy lava or from the tips of lava jets or from bits of liquid lava thrown into the air. It often collects in thick masses resembling tow.

Pelican State () Louisiana; -- a nickname alluding to the device on its seal.

Pelisse (n.) A lady's or child's long outer garment, of silk or other fabric.

Pellagrous (a.) Pertaining to, or affected with, or attendant on, pellagra; as, pellagrous insanity.

Pelorus (n.) An instrument similar to a mariner's compass, but without magnetic needles, and having two sight vanes by which bearings are taken, esp. such as cannot be taken by the compass.

Pelota (n.) A Basque, Spanish, and Spanish-American game played in a court, in which a ball is struck with a wickerwork racket.

Peltier effect () The production or absorption of heat at the junction of two metals on the passage of a current. Heat generated by the passage of the current in one direction will be absorbed if the current is reversed.

Peltier's cross () A cross formed of two strips of different metals, to illustrate the Peltier effect.

Pelton wheel () A form of impulse turbine or water wheel, consisting of a row of double cup-shaped buckets arranged round the rim of a wheel and actuated by one or more jets of water playing into the cups at high velocity.

Pembroke table () A style of four-legged table in vogue in England, chiefly in the later Georgian period.

Penang lawyer () A kind of walking stick made from the stem of an East Asiatic palm (Licuala acutifida).

Penchant (n.) A game like bezique, or, in the game, any queen and jack of different suits held together.

Peneplain (n.) A land surface reduced by erosion to the general condition of a plain, but not wholly devoid of hills; a base-level plain.

Pentathlon (n.) In the modern Olympic Games, a composite contest made up of a running broad jump, throwing the javelin, a 200-meter run, throwing the discus, and a 1500-meter run.

-sane () One of a class of substances (complex carbohydrates widely distributed in plants, as in fruits, gums, woods, hay, etc.) which yield pentoses on hydrolysis.

Pentose (n.) Any of a group of sugars of the formula C5H10O5, as arabinose; -- so called from the five carbon atoms in the molecule. They are not fermented by yeast.

People's bank () A form of cooperative bank, such as those of Germany; -- a term loosely used for various forms of cooperative financial institutions.

People's party () A party formed in 1891, advocating in an increase of the currency, public ownership and operation of railroads, telegraphs, etc., an income tax, limitation in ownership of land, etc.

Peplum (n.) A peplos. Hence: An overskirt hanging like an ancient peplos; also, a short fitted skirt attached to a waist or coat.

Pepper box (n.) A buttress on the left-hand wall of a fives court as the game is played at Eton College, England.

Percaline (n.) A fine kind of cotton goods, usually of one color, and with a glossy surface, -- much use for linings.

Percolator (n.) A kind of coffee pot in which the heated water is caused to filter through the coffee and thus extract its essence.

Percolator (n.) An apparatus for producing an extract from a drug by percolation.

Per diem () By the day; substantively (chiefly U. S.), an allowance or amount of so much by the day.

Pere (n.) Father; -- often used after French proper names to distinguish a father from his son; as, Dumas pere.

Pergola (n.) An arbor or trellis treated architecturally, as with stone columns or similar massive structure.

Pergolo (n.) A continuous colonnade or arcade; -- applied to the decorative groups of windows, as in Venetian palazzi.

Periptery (n.) The region surrounding a moving body, such as the wing of a bird or a gliding aeroplane, within which cyclic or vortical motion of the air occur.

Perique (n.) A kind of tobacco with medium-sized leaf, small stem, tough and gummy fiber, raised in Louisiana, and cured in its own juices, so as to be very dark colored, usually black. It is marketed in tightly wrapped rolls called carottes.

Permit (n.) A large pompano (Trachinotus goodei) of the West Indies, Florida, etc. It becomes about three feet long.

Permulator (n.) A special form of rotary converter with stationary commutator and rotating brushes, in which the exciting field is induced by the alternating current in a short-circuited magnetic core instead of being produced by an external magnet.

Perpetual calendar () A calendar that can be used perpetually or over a wide range of years. That of Capt. Herschel covers, as given below, dates from 1750 to 1961 only, but is capable of indefinite extension.

Perron (n.) An out-of-door flight of steps, as in a garden, leading to a terrace or to an upper story; -- usually applied to mediaevel or later structures of some architectural pretensions.

Perseid (n.) One of a group of shooting stars appearing annually about the 10th of August. They are probably fragments of Swift's comet 1862 (III).

Persienne (n.) Properly, printed calico, whether Oriental or of fanciful design with flowers, etc., in Western work. Hence, as extended in English, material of a similar character.

Persiennes (n. pl.) Window blinds having movable slats, similar to Venetian blinds.

Petite (a.) Small, little; of a woman or girl, of small size and trim figure.

Petit mal () The mildest form of epilepsy, with momentary faintness or unconsciousness, but without convulsions; -- opposed to grand mal.

Petune (v. t.) To spray (tobacco) with a liquid intended to produce flavor or aroma.

Phanar (n.) A quarter of Constantinople which, after the Turkish conquest of the city, became the chief Greek quarter; hence, the Greek officials of Turkey, or phanariots, as a class.

Phanariote () One of the Greeks of Constantinople who after the Turkish conquest became powerful in clerical and other offices under Turkish patronage.

Phantom circuit () The equivalent of an additional circuit or wire, in reality not existing, obtained by certain arrangements of real circuits, as in some multiplex telegraph systems.

Pharmacodymanics (n.) That branch of pharmacology which treats of the action and the effects of medicines.

Phase (n.) A homogenous, physically distinct portion of matter in a system not homogeneous; as, the three phases, ice, water, and aqueous vapor. A phase may be either a single chemical substance or a mixture, as of gases.

Phase (n.) In certain birds and mammals, one of two or more color variations characteristic of the species, but independent of the ordinary seasonal and sexual differences, and often also of age. Some of the herons which appear in white and colored phases, and certain squirrels which are sometimes uniformly blackish instead of the usual coloration, furnish examples. Color phases occur also in other animals, notably in butterflies.

Phase (n.) The relation at any instant of a periodically varying electric magnitude, as electro-motive force, a current, etc., to its initial value as expressed in factorial parts of the complete cycle. It is usually expressed in angular measure, the cycle beb four right angles, or 360¡. Such periodic variations are generally well represented by sine curves; and phase relations are shown by the relative positions of the crests and hollows of such curves. Magnitudes which have the same phase are said to be in phase.

Phase converter () A machine for converting an alternating current into an alternating current of a different number of phases and the same frequency.

Phase displacement () A charge of phase whereby an alternating current attains its maximum later or earlier. An inductance would cause a lag, a capacity would cause an advance, in phase.

Phasemeter (n.) A device for measuring the difference in phase of two alternating currents of electromotive forces.

Phase rule () A generalization with regard to systems of chemical equilibrium, discovered by Prof. J. Willard Gibbs. It may be stated thus: The degree of variableness (number of degrees of freedom) of a system is equal to the number of components minus the number of phases, plus two. Thus, if the components be salt and water, and the phases salt, ice, saturated solution, and vapor, the system is invariant, that is, there is only one set of conditions under which these four phases can exist in equilibrium. If only three phases be considered, the system is univariant, that is, the fixing of one condition, as temperature, determines the others.

Phase splitter () A device by which a single-phase current is split into two or more currents differing in phase. It is used in starting single-phase induction motors.

Phase splitting () The dephasing of the two parts of a single alternating current in two dissimilar branches of a given circuit.

Phasing current () The momentary current between two alternating-current generators when juxtaposed in parallel and not agreeing exactly in phase or period.

Phasing transformer () Any of several transformers (there must be at least two) for changing phase.

Phenacetine (n.) A white, crystalline compound, C10H13O2N, used in medicine principally as an antipyretic.

Phenalgin (n.) An ammoniated compound of phenyl and acetamide, used as an analgesic and antipyretic. It resembles phenacetin in its therapeutic action.

Phenology (n.) The science of the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena, as the migrations and breeding of birds, the flowering and fruiting of plants, etc.

Phenol phthalein () A white or yellowish white crystalline substance, C20H14O4, formed by condensation of the anhydride of phthalic acid and phenol. Its solution in alkalies is brilliant red, but is decolorized by acids. This reaction, being very delicate, is used as an indicator.

Philathea (n.) An international, interdenominational organization of Bible classes of young women.

Philharmonic (n.) short for Philharmonic Society, concert, assemblage, or the like.

Phlegethon (n.) One of the principal rivers of Hades, in the channel of which fire flowed instead of water.

Phosphorus steel () A steel in which the amount of phosphorus exceeds that of carbon.

Photic (a.) Of or pert. to light; specif., relating to the production of light by the lower animals.

Photic region () The uppermost zone of the sea, which receives the most light.

Photobacterium (n.) A genus including certain comma-shaped marine bacteria which emit bluish or greenish phosphorescence. Also, any microorganism of this group.

Photoceramics (n.) Art or process of decorating pottery with photographically prepared designs.

Photochromoscope (n.) A device for giving shifting effects of color to a photograph. The unmounted print, made translucent, is illuminated from behind with colored light.

Photochromoscope (n.) A combination of three optical lanterns for projecting objects on a screen in the colors of nature. The images of three partial photographs taken through color screens (red, green, and blue, respectively) are superimposed. Each image is given its own primary color, and these colors blend and reproduce the colors of the object.

Photochromotype (v. t.) To represent by a colored print made by any photomechanical process.

Photochronograph (n.) An instrument for recording minute intervals of time. The record is made by the power of a magnetic field, due to an electric signaling current, to turn the plane of polarization of light. A flash, coinciding in time and duration with the signal, is thus produced and is photographed on a moving plate.

Photochronograph (n.) An instrument for the photographic recording of star transits.

Photochronography (n.) Art of recording or measuring intervals of time by the photochronograph.

Photodynamics (n.) The relation of light to the movements of plants and their organs; the study of the phenomena of curvatures induced by the stimulus of light.

Photo-electrical (a.) Pert. to, or capable of developing, photo-electricity.

Photo-electric cell () A cell (as one of two electrodes embedded in selenium) which by exposure to light generates an electric current.

Photo-engrave (v. t.) To engrave by a photomechanical process; to make a photo-engraving of.

Photo-etch (v. t.) To engrave, or make an engraving of, by any photomechanical process involving etching of the plate.

Photo-etching (n.) A photo-engraving produced by any process involving the etching of the plate.

Photogrammeter (n.) A phototheodolite, or a camera designed for use in photogrammetry.

Photogrammetry (n.) A method of surveying or map making by photography, used also in determining the height and motions of clouds, sea waves, and the like.

Photographone (n.) A device, consisting essentially of an electric arc and a camera, by which a series of photographs of the variations of the arc due to sound waves are obtained for reproduction by means of a selenium cell and a telephone.

Photoheliometer (n.) A double-lens instrument for measuring slight variations of the sun's diameter by photography, utilizing the common chord of two overlapping images.

Photonephograph (n.) A nephoscope registering by photography, commonly consisting of a pair of cameras used simultaneously.

Photophore (n.) A light-emitting organ; specif., one of the luminous spots on certain marine (mostly deep-sea) fishes.

Photoplay (n.) A play for representation or exhibition by moving pictures; also, the moving-picture representation of a play.

Photosynthesis (n.) The process of constructive metabolism by which carbohydrates are formed from water vapor and the carbon dioxide of the air in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants exposed to the action of light. It was formerly called assimilation, but this is now commonly used as in animal physiology. The details of the process are not yet clearly known. Baeyer's theory is that the carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide, which, uniting with the hydrogen of the water in the cell, produces formaldehyde, the latter forming various sugars through polymerization. Vines suggests that the carbohydrates are secretion products of the chloroplasts, derived from decomposition of previously formed proteids. The food substances are usually quickly translocated, those that accumulate being changed to starch, which appears in the cells almost simultaneously with the sugars. The chloroplasts perform photosynthesis only in light and within a certain range of temperature, varying according to climate. This is the only way in which a plant is able to organize carbohydrates. All plants without a chlorophyll apparatus, as the fungi, must be parasitic or saprophytic.

Phototaxy (n.) The influence of light on the movements of low organisms, as various infusorians, the zoospores of certain algae, etc.; also, the tendency to follow definite directions of motion or assume definite positions under such influence. If the migration is toward the source of light, it is termed positive phototaxis; if away from the light, negative phototaxis.

Phototelegraphy (n.) Telegraphy by means of light, as by the heliograph or the photophone. Also, less properly, telephotography.

Phototelescope (n.) A telescope adapted for taking photographs of the heavenly bodies.

Phototheodolite (n.) An arrangement of two photographic cameras, the plates of which may be brought into exactly the same plane, used in surveying and map making. From the differences between two pictures taken at the same moment, measurements in all dimensions of the region may be obtained.

Phototherapy (n.) The application of light for therapeutic purposes, esp. for treating diseases of the skin.

Phototonus (n.) An irritable condition of protoplasm, resulting in movement, due to a certain intensity of light.

Phototrichromatic (a.) Designating a photomechanical process for making reproductions in natural colors by three printings.

Phototropism (n.) The tendency of growing plant organs to move or curve under the influence of light. In ordinary use the term is practically synonymous with heliotropism.

Photovisual (a.) Of certain achromatic lenses, having the same focus for the actinic and for the brightest of the visual rays.

Phrygian cap () A close-fitting cap represented in Greek art as worn by Orientals, assumed to have been conical in shape. It has been adopted in modern art as the so-called liberty cap, or cap of liberty.

Phycomycetes (n. pl.) A large, important class of parasitic or saprophytic fungi, the algal or algalike fungi. The plant body ranges from an undifferentiated mass of protoplasm to a well-developed and much-branched mycelium. Reproduction is mainly sexual, by the formation of conidia or sporangia; but the group shows every form of transition from this method through simple conjugation to perfect sexual reproduction by egg and sperm in the higher forms.

Physiography (n.) The descriptive part of a natural science as distinguished from the explanatory or theoretic part; as, mineral physiography.

Pi (n.) Specif.: (Math.) The letter /, /, as used to denote the number or quotient approximately expressing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter; also, the quotient or the ratio itself. The value of the quotient pi, to eight decimal places, is 3.14159265. The quotient pi cannot be expressed as a root of an algebraic equation; and from this fact follows the impossibility of the quadrature of the circle by purely algebraic processes, or by the aid of a ruler and compass.

Pickup (n.) Act of picking up, as, in various games, the fielding or hitting of a ball just after it strikes the ground.

Pickup (n.) One that is picked up, as a meal hastily got up for the occasion, a chance acquaintance, an informal game, etc.

Picot (n.) One of many small loops, as of thread, forming an ornamental border, as on a ribbon.

Pierre-perdu (n.) Blocks of stone or concrete heaped loosely in the water to make a foundation (as for a sea wall), a mole, etc.

Piffle (v. i.) To be sequeamish or delicate; hence, to act or talk triflingly or ineffectively; to twaddle; piddle.

Pigeonwing (n.) An old mode of dressing men's side hair in a form likened to a pigeon's wings; also, a wig similarly shaped.

Pigeonwing (n.) A fancy step executed by jumping and striking the legs together; as, to cut a pigeonwing.

Pigeonwing (n.) A color, brown shaded with purple, coming between dark brown and light blue in the table of colors in drawing the temper of hardened steel.

Pigskin (n.) A football; -- so called because the covering is often made of pigskin.

Pilon (n.) A gratuity given by tradesmen to customers settling their accounts.

Pilot (n.) One who flies, or is qualified to fly, a balloon, an airship, or a flying machine.

Pilot (n.) A short plug at the end of a counterbore to guide the tool. Pilots are sometimes made interchangeable.

Pilot (n.) The heading or excavation of relatively small dimensions, first made in the driving of a larger tunnel.

Pilot balloon () A small, unmanned balloon sent up to indicate the direction of air currents.

Pilot flag () The flag hoisted at the fore by a vessel desiring a pilot, in the United States the union jack, in Great Britain the British union jack with a white border.

light () A small incandescent telltale lamp on a dynamo or battery circuit to show approximately by its brightness the voltage of the current.

Pilot valve () A small hand-operated valve to admit liquid to operate a valve difficult to turn by hand.

Pilot wheel () A wheel, usually with radial handles projecting from the rim, for traversing the saddle of a machine tool, esp. an automatic machine tool, by hand.

Pilpul (n.) Among the Jews, penetrating investigation, disputation, and drawing of conclusions, esp. in Talmudic study.

Pimiento (n.) The Spanish sweet pepper, the fruit of which is used as a vegetable, to stuff olives, etc.

Pina () A cone of silver amalgam prepared for retorting; also, the residuary cone of spongy silver left after the retorting.

Pinacate bug () Any of several clumsy, wingless beetles of the genus Eleodes, found in the Pacific States.

Pi–a cloth () A fine fabric for scarfs, handkerchiefs, embroidery, etc., woven from the fiber obtained from the leaf of the sterile pineapple plant. It is delicate, soft, and transparent, with a tinge of pale yellow.

Pinch (v. t.) To seize by way of theft; to steal; also, to catch; to arrest.

Pine-tree State () Maine; -- a nickname alluding to the pine tree in its coat of arms.

Pin-fire (a.) Having a firing pin to explode the cartridge; as, a pin-fire rifle.

Ping-pong (n.) An indoor modification of lawn tennis played with small bats, or battledores, and a very light, hollow, celluloid ball, on a large table divided across the middle by a net.

Pintado (n.) A fish (Scomberomorus regalis) similar to, but larger than, the Spanish mackerel, and having elongated spots, common about Florida and the West Indies.

Pintsch gas () A kind of oil gas extensively used for lighting railroad cars, which carry it in compressed form.

Pioneers' Day () In Utah, a legal holiday, July 24, commemorated the arrival, in 1847, of Brigham Young and his followers at the present site of Salt Lake City.

Pipe line () A line of pipe with pumping machinery and apparatus for conveying liquids, esp. petroleum, between distant points.

Pipe-line (v. t.) To convey by a pipe line; to furnish with a pipe line or pipe lines.

-zin () A crystalline substance, (C2H4NH)2, formed by action of ammonia on ethylene bromide, by reduction of pyrazine, etc. It is a strong base, and is used as a remedy for gout.

Pipevine (n.) Any climbing species of Aristolochia; esp., the Dutchman's pipe (A. sipho).

Pipewood (n.) An ericaceous shrub (Leucothoe acuminata) of the southern United States, from the wood of which pipe bowls are made.

Pistache (n.) The anacardiaceous tree Pistacia vera, which yields the pistachio nut; also, the nut itself and the flavoring extract prepared from it.

Pistachio (n.) The small anacardiaceous tree, of southern Europe and Asia Minor, which bears the pistachio nut.

Pistachio (n.) The flavor of the pistachio nut, or an ice or confection flavored with it.

Pistachio green () A light yellowish green color resembling that of the pistachio nut.

Piston ring () A spring packing ring, or any of several such rings, for a piston.

Pitch (n.) The distance between symmetrically arranged or corresponding parts of an armature, measured along a line, called the pitch line, drawn around its length. Sometimes half of this distance is called the pitch.

Pithecanthropus (n.) A hypothetical genus of primates intermediate between man and the anthropoid apes.

Pithecanthropus (n.) A genus consisting of an primate (P. erectus) apparently intermediate between man and the existing anthropoid apes, known from bones of a single individual found in Java (hence called Java man) in 1891-92. These bones include a thigh bone of the human type, two molar teeth intermediate between those of man and the anthropoids, and the calvaria of the skull, indicating a brain capacity of about 900 cubic centimeters, and resembling in form that of the Neanderthal man.

Pitter-patter (n.) A sound like that of alternating light beats. Also, a pattering of words.

Pitter-patter (adv.) With, or with the sound of, alternating light beats; as, his heart went pitter-patter.

Pityriasis (n.) A disease of domestic animals characterized by dry epithelial scales, and due to digestive disturbances and alteration of the function of the sebaceous glands.

Place (n.) The position of first, second, or third at the finish, esp. the second position. In betting, to win a bet on a horse for place it must, in the United States, finish first or second, in England, usually, first, second, or third.

Place (v. t.) To determine or announce the place of at the finish. Usually, in horse racing only the first three horses are placed officially.

Place-kick (v. t. & i.) To make a place kick; to make (a goal) by a place kick.

Plane (v. i.) Of a boat, to lift more or less out of the water while in motion, after the manner of a hydroplane; to hydroplane.

Plankton (n.) All the animals and plants, taken collectively, which live at or near the surface of salt or fresh waters.

Planogamete (n.) One of the motile ciliated gametes, or zoogametes, found in isogamous plants, as many green algae (Chlorophyceae).

Plaquette (n.) A small plaque, esp., in modern medal engraving, a small and delicate bas-relief, whether cast or struck from a die, or of form other than circular.

Plasmon (n.) A flourlike food preparation made from skim milk, and consisting essentially of the unaltered proteid of milk. It is also used in making biscuits and crackers, for mixing with cocoa, etc. A mixture of this with butter, water, and salt is called Plasmon butter, and resembles clotted cream in appearance.

Plate (n.) A small five-sided area (enveloping a diamond-shaped area one foot square) beside which the batter stands and which must be touched by some part of a player on completing a run; -- called also home base, or home plate.

Plate (n.) Loosely, a sporting contest for a prize; specif., in horse racing, a race for a prize, the contestants not making a stake.

Plate (n.) Skins for fur linings of garments, sewed together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.

Plate (n.) The fine nap (as of beaver, hare's wool, musquash, nutria, or English black wool) on a hat the body of which is of an inferior substance.

Plater (n.) A horse that runs chiefly in plate, esp. selling-plate, races; hence, an inferior race horse.

Plebs (n.) The commonalty of ancient Rome who were citizens without the usual political rights; the plebeians; -- distinguished from the patricians.

Plenum (n.) A condition, as in an occupied room, in which the pressure of the air is greater than that of the outside atmosphere; as, a plenum may exist in a hall ventilated by a fan blower.

Plexus (n.) A network; an intricate or interwoven combination of elements or parts in a coherent structure.

Plop (v. i.) To fall, drop, or move in any way, with a sudden splash or slap, as on the surface of water.

Plouter (v. i.) To wade or move about with splashing; to dabble; also, to potter; trifle; idle.

Plucker tube () A vacuum tube, used in spectrum analysis, in which the part through which the discharge takes place is a capillary tube, thus producing intense incandescence of the contained gases.

Plug board () A switchboard in which connections are made by means of plugs.

Plum (n.) Something likened to a plum in desirableness; a good or choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions, parts of a book, etc.

Plump (a.) Done or made plump, or suddenly and without reservation; blunt; unreserved; direct; downright.

Plunk (v. t.) To throw, push, drive heavily, plumply, or suddenly; as, to plunk down a dollar; also, to hit or strike.

Plunk (v. i.) To make a quick, hollow, metallic, or harsh sound, as by pulling hard on a taut string and quickly releasing it; of a raven, to croak.

Pluviography (n.) The branch of meteorology treating of the automatic registration of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.; also, the graphic presentation of precipitation data.

Pluviometry (n.) That department of meteorology that treats of the measurement of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.

Pneumatic (n.) A vehicle, as a bicycle, the wheels of which are fitted with pneumatic tires.

Pneumatical (a.) Adapted for containing compressed air; inflated with air; as, a pneumatic cushion; a pneumatic tire, a tire formed of an annular tube of flexible fabric, as India rubber, suitable for being inflated with air.

Pocket veto () The retention by the President of the United States of a bill unsigned so that it does not become a law, in virtue of the following constitutional provision (Const. Art. I., sec. 7, cl. 2): "If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law." Also, an analogous retention of a bill by a State governor.

Poets' Corner () An angle in the south transept of Westminster Abbey, London; -- so called because it contains the tombs of Chaucer, Spenser, Dryden, Ben Jonson, Gray, Tennyson, Browning, and other English poets, and memorials to many buried elsewhere.

Pogamoggan (n.) An aboriginal weapon consisting of a stone or piece of antler fastened to the end of a slender wooden handle, used by American Indians from the Great Plains to the Mackenzie River.

Point (n.) A pointed piece of quill or bone covered at one end with vaccine matter; -- called also vaccine point.

Point (n.) One of the raised dots used in certain systems of printing and writing for the blind. The first practical system was that devised by Louis Braille in 1829, and still used in Europe (see Braille). Two modifications of this are current in the United States: New York point founded on three bases of equidistant points arranged in two lines (viz., : :: :::), and a later improvement, American Braille, embodying the Braille base (:::) and the New-York-point principle of using the characters of few points for the commonest letters.

Point (n.) In various games, a position of a certain player, or, by extension, the player himself;

Point (n.) The position of the player of each side who stands a short distance in front of the goal keeper; also, the player himself.

Point (n.) A spot to which a straight run is made; hence, a straight run from point to point; a cross-country run.

Point (n.) The perpendicular rising of a hawk over the place where its prey has gone into cover.

Point (n.) Act of pointing, as of the foot downward in certain dance positions.

Point alphabet () An alphabet for the blind with a system of raised points corresponding to letters.

Point applique () Lace having a needle-made design applied to a net ground, this ground often being machine-made.

Point switch () A switch made up of a rail from each track, both rails being tapered far back and connected to throw alongside the through rail of either track.

Poison bush () Any fabaceous shrub of the genus Gastrolobium, the herbage of which is poisonous to stock; also, any species of several related genera, as Oxylobium, Gompholobium, etc.

Poison bush () The plant Myoporum deserti, often distinguished as Ellangowan poison bush or dogwood poison bush.

Poison bush () The ulmaceous plant Trema cannabina, which, though not poisonous, is injurious to stock because of its large amount of fiber.

Poison cup () A cup that was supposed to break on having poison put into it.

Poker dice () A game played with five dice in which the count is usually made, in order, by pairs, two pairs, three of a kind, full houses, four of a kind, and five of a kind (the highest throw), similar to poker; also, the dice used in this game, esp. when marked with the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, and nine instead of the usual digits.

Police power () The inherent power of a government to regulate its police affairs.

Polissoir (n.) A tool consisting of a flat wooden block with a long iron handle, used for flattening out split cylinders of blown glass.

Polo (n.) A Spanish gypsy dance characterized by energetic movements of the body while the feet merely shuffle or glide, with unison singing and rhythmic clapping of hands.

Polonium (n.) A supposed new element, a radioactive substance discovered by M. and MMe. Curie in pitchblende. It is closely related chemically to bismuth. It emits only alpha rays and is perhaps identical with radium F.

Polyphase (a.) Having or producing two or more phases; multiphase; as, a polyphase machine, a machine producing two or more pressure waves of electro-motive force, differing in phase; a polyphase current.

Polyphaser (n.) A machine generating more than one pressure wave; a multiphaser.

Polyphote (a.) Pertaining to or designating arc lamps so constructed that more than one can be used on a single circuit.

Polytype (n.) A cast, or facsimile copy, of an engraved block, matter in type, etc.

Pompeian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, Pompeii, an ancient city of Italy, buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 a. d., and partly uncovered by modern excavations.

Pompeian red () A brownish red approaching maroon, supposed to be imitated from the color of the wall panels of houses in Pompeii, which were decorated during the last age of the Republic.

Pom-pom (n.) A Vickers-Maxim one-pounder automatic machine cannon using metallic ammunition fed from a lopped belt attached to the gun; -- popularly so called from its peculiar drumming sound in action. Sometimes, any of other similar automatic cannons.

Pompon (n.) A hardy garden chrysanthemum having buttonlike heads of flowers.

Poncelet (n.) A unit of power, being the power obtained from an expenditure of one hundred kilogram-meters of energy per second. One poncelet equals g watts, when g is the value of the acceleration of gravity in centimeters.

Pone (n.) An original writ, now superseded by the writ of certiorari, for removing a case from an inferior court into the Court of Exchequer.

Pone (n.) An obsolete writ to enforce appearance in court by attaching goods or requiring securities.

Pone (n.) The player who cuts the cards, being usually the player on the dealer's right.

Poonah painting () A style of painting, popular in England in the 19th century, in which a thick opaque color is applied without background and with scarcely any shading, to thin paper, producing flowers, birds, etc., in imitation of Oriental work.

Pope's head () A long-handled brush for dusting ceilings, etc., also for washing windows.

Porgy (n.) Any one of numerous sparoid food fishes, as the jolthead porgy, the sheepshead porgy (Calamus penna) of the West Indies, the grass porgy (Calamus arctifrons) of Florida, and the red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) of Europe.

Porotype (n.) A copy of a print, writing, etc., made by placing it upon a chemically prepared paper which is acted upon by a gas which permeates the paper of the print, writing, etc.

Positive (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, a motion or device in which the movement derived from a driver, or the grip or hold of a restraining piece, is communicated through an unyielding intermediate piece or pieces; as, a claw clutch is a positive clutch, while a friction clutch is not.

Positive (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, a device giving a to-and-fro motion; as, a positive dobby.

Positive (a.) Designating a method of steering or turning in which the steering wheels move so that they describe concentric arcs in making a turn, to insure freedom from side slip or harmful resistance.

Postexilic (a.) belonging to a period subsequent to the Babylonian captivity or exile (b. c. 597 or about 586-about 537).

Postglacial (a.) Formed or occurring after the last glacial epoch of the Pleistocene period, or at a locality within the area of Pleistocene glaciation after the final disappearance of the glacier from the locality.

Postglacial (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an epoch after the last Glacial and before the Terrace epoch.

Postgraduate (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the studies pursued after graduation, esp., after receiving the bachelor's degree at a college; graduate.

Post-impressionism (n.) In the broadest sense, the theory or practice of any of several groups of recent painters, or of these groups taken collectively, whose work and theories have in common a tendency to reaction against the scientific and naturalistic character of impressionism and neo-impressionism. In a strict sense the term post-impressionism is used to denote the effort at self-expression, rather than representation, shown in the work of Cezanne, Matisse, etc.; but it is more broadly used to include cubism, the theory or practice of a movement in both painting and sculpture which lays stress upon volume as the important attribute of objects and attempts its expression by the use of geometrical figures or solids only; and futurism, a theory or practice which attempts to place the observer within the picture and to represent simultaneously a number of consecutive movements and impressions. In practice these theories and methods of the post-impressionists change with great rapidity and shade into one another, so that a picture may be both cubist and futurist in character. They tend to, and sometimes reach, a condition in which both representation and traditional decoration are entirely abolished and a work of art becomes a purely subjective expression in an arbitrary and personal language.

Pot (v. t.) To shoot for the pot, i.e., cooking; to secure or hit by a pot shot; to shoot when no special skill is needed.

Pot (n.) The total of the bets at stake at one time, as in racing or card playing; the pool;

Pot (n.) A plain defensive headpiece; later, and perhaps in a jocose sense, any helmet; -- called also pot helmet.

Pot-au-feu (n.) A dish of broth, meat, and vegetables prepared by boiling in a pot, -- a dish esp. common among the French.

Potheen (n.) Whisky distilled in a small way privately or illicitly by the Irish peasantry.

Potiche (n.) A vase with a separate cover, the body usually rounded or polygonal in plan with nearly vertical sides, a neck of smaller size, and a rounded shoulder.

Pot lace () Lace whose pattern includes one or more representations of baskets or bowls from which flowers spring.

Potlatch (n.) Among the Kwakiutl, Chimmesyan, and other Indians of the northwestern coast of North America, a ceremonial distribution by a man of gifts to his own and neighboring tribesmen, often, formerly, to his own impoverishment. Feasting, dancing, and public ceremonies accompany it.

Potlatch (n.) Hence, a feast given to a large number of persons, often accompanied by gifts.

Pot lead () Graphite, or black lead, often used on the bottoms of racing vessels to diminish friction.

Pot shot () Lit., a shot fired simply to fill the pot; hence, a shot fired at an animal or person when at rest or within easy range, or fired simply to kill, without reference to the rules of sport; a shot needling no special skill.

Pouffe (n.) A soft cushion, esp. one circular in shape and not, like a pilow, of bag form, or thin at the edges.

Pouffe (n.) A piece of furniture like an ottoman, generally circular and affording cushion seats on all sides.

Poulard (n.) A pullet from which the ovaries have been removed to produce fattening; hence, a fat pullet.

Pousse-cafe (n.) A drink served after coffee at dinner, usually one of several liqueurs, or cordials, of different specific gravities poured so as to remain separate in layers; hence, such a drink of cordials served at any time.

Pou sto () A place to stand upon; a locus standi; hence, a foundation or basis for operations.

Praline (n.) A confection made of nut kernels, usually of almonds, roasted in boiling sugar until brown and crisp.

Pralltriller (n.) A melodic embellishment consisting of the quick alternation of a principal tone with an auxiliary tone above it, usually the next of the scale; -- called also the inverted mordente.

Preadmission (n.) admission, as of steam, to the engine cylinder before the back stroke is completed, thus increasing the cushioning.

Precieuse (n.) An affected woman of polite society, esp. one of the literary women of the French salons of the 17th century.

Preciosity (n.) Fastidious refinement, esp. in language; specif., the affected purism and sententiousness characteristic of the French precieuses of the 17th century.

Precious (a.) Particular; fastidious; overnice; overrefined. Cf. Precieuse, Preciosity.

Precipitation (n.) A deposit on the earth of hail, mist, rain, sleet, or snow; also, the quantity of water deposited.

Preferential voting () A system of voting, as at primaries, in which the voters are allowed to indicate on their ballots their preference (usually their first and second choices) between two or more candidates for an office, so that if no candidate receives a majority of first choices the one receiving the greatest number of first and second choices together in nominated or elected.

Preignition (n.) Ignition in an internal-combustion engine while the inlet valve is open or before compression is completed.

Premiere (n. fem.) The leading woman of a group, esp. in a theatrical cast.

Pre-Raphaelite (n.) Popularly, any modern artist thought to be a would-be restorer of early ideas or methods, as one of the German painters often called Nazarenes, or one who paints and draws with extreme minuteness of detail.

worth () The principal which, drawing interest at a given rate, will amount to the given sum at the date on which this is to be paid; thus, interest being at 6%, the present value of $106 due one year hence is $100.

Pressboard (n.) A kind of highly sized rag paper or board, sometimes containing a small admixture of wood pulp; -- so called because used originally, as now, in presses for pressing and finishing knit underwear.

Press cake () A cake of compressed substance, as: in gunpowder manufacture, the cake resulting from compressing the meal powder; in the treatment of coal tar, the pressed product at various stages of the process; or, in beet-sugar manufacture, the vegetable residue after the sugar juice has been expressed.

Press proof () A proof taken on a press, esp. to show impression, margins, color, etc.

Pressure wires () Wires leading from various points of an electric system to a central station, where a voltmeter indicates the potential of the system at those points.

Presswork (n.) Act or process of pressing or drawing with dies or presses; also, the product of such work.

Presswork (n.) Work consisting of a series of cross-grained veneers united by glue, heat, and pressure.

Prime (a.) Divisible by no number except itself or unity; as, 7 is a prime number.

Primrose League () A league of both sexes among the Conservatives, founded in 1883. So called because primrose was (erroneously, it is said) taken to be the favorite flower of the Conservative statesman Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield.

Printing in () A process by which cloud effects or other features not in the original negative are introduced into a photograph. Portions, such as the sky, are covered while printing and the blank space thus reserved is filled in by printing from another negative.

Printing out () A method of printing, in which the image is fully brought out by the direct actinic action of light without subsequent development by means of chemicals.

Prior (a.) First, precedent, or superior in the order of cognition, reason or generality, origin, development, rank, etc.

Prism glass () Glass with one side smooth and the other side formed into sharp-edged ridges so as to reflect the light that passes through, used at windows to throw the light into the interior.

Privatdocent (n.) In the universities of Germany and some other European countries, a licensed teacher or lecturer having no share in the university government and dependent upon fees for remuneration.

Process plate () A plate prepared by a mechanical process, esp. a photomechanical process.

Process plate () A very slow photographic plate, giving good contrasts between high lights and shadows, used esp. for making lantern slides.

Produce race () A race to be run by the produce of horses named or described at the time of entry.

Producer's goods () Goods that satisfy wants only indirectly as factors in the production of other goods, such as tools and raw material; -- called also instrumental goods, auxiliary goods, intermediate goods, or goods of the second and higher orders, and disting. from consumers' goods.

Producer's surplus () Any profit above the normal rate of interest and wages accruing to a producer on account of some monopoly (temporary or permanent) of the means or materials of production; -- called also Producer's rent.

Progressive party () The political party formed, chiefly out of the Republican party, by the adherents of Theodore Roosevelt in the presidential campaign of 1912. The name Progressive party was chosen at the meeting held on Aug. 7, 1912, when the candidates were nominated and the platform adopted. Among the chief articles in the platform are those demanding direct primaries, preferential primaries for presidential nominations, direct election of United States senators, women's suffrage, and recall of judicial decisions in certain cases.

Projector (n.) An optical instrument for projecting a picture upon a screen, as by a magic lantern or by an instrument for projecting (by reflection instead of transmission of light) a picture of an opaque object, as photographs, picture post-cards, insects, etc., in the colors of the object itself. In this latter form the projection is accomplished by means of a combination of lenses with a prism and a mirror or reflector. Specific instruments have been called by different names, such as radiopticon, mirrorscope, balopticon, etc.

Prosit (interj.) Lit., may it do (you) good; -- a salutation used in well wishing, esp. among Germans, as in drinking healths.

Protein (n.) In chemical analysis, the total nitrogenous material in vegetable or animal substances, obtained by multiplying the total nitrogen found by a factor, usually 6.25, assuming most proteids to contain approximately 16 per cent of nitrogen.

Proteose (n.) One of a class of soluble products formed in the digestion of proteids with gastric and pancreatic juice, and also by the hydrolytic action of boiling dilute acids on proteids. Proteoses are divided into the two groups, the primary and secondary proteoses.

Protometals (n. pl.) A finer form of metals, indicated by enhanced lines in their spark spectra (which are also observed in the spectra of some stars), obtained at the highest available laboratory temperatures (Lockyer); as protocalcium, protochromium, protocopper, protonickel, protosilicon, protostrontium, prototitanium, protovanadium.

Provenience (n.) Origin; source; place where found or produced; provenance; -- used esp. in the fine arts and in archaeology; as, the provenience of a patera.

Proxenetism (n.) The action of a go-between or broker in negotiating immoral bargains between the sexes; procuring.

Psychanalysis (n.) A method or process of psychotherapeutic analysis based on the work of Dr. Sigmund Freud (1856- --) of Vienna. The method rests upon the theory that hysteria is characteristically due to repression of desires consciously rejected but subconsciously persistent; it consists in a close analysis of the patient's mental history, stress being laid upon the dream life, and of treatment by means of suggestion.

Psychotherapeutics (n.) The treatment of disease by acting on the mind, as by suggestion; mind cure; psychotherapy.

Publicity pamphlet () A pamphlet which, in some States of the United States having the initiative or referendum, is mailed to the voters to inform them as to the nature of a measure submitted by the initiative or referendum. The pamphlet contains a copy of the proposed law and arguments for and against it by those favoring and opposing it, respectively.

Public school () In Great Britain, any of various schools maintained by the community, wholly or partly under public control, or maintained largely by endowment and not carried on chiefly for profit; specif., and commonly, any of various select and usually expensive endowed schools which give a liberal modern education or prepare pupils for the universities. Eton, Harrow, Rugby, and Winchester are of this class.

Public school () In the United States, a free primary, grammar, or high school maintained by the local government.

Quasi-public corporation () A corporation, such as a railroad company, lighting company, water company, etc., organized or chartered to follow a public calling or to render services more or less essential to the general public convenience or safety.

Puck (n.) A disk of vulcanized rubber used in the game of hockey, as the object to be driven through the goals.

Pucka (a.) Good of its kind; -- variously used as implying substantial, real, fixed, sure, etc., and specif., of buildings, made of brick and mortar.

Pudding wife () A large, handsomely colored, blue and bronze, labroid fish (Iridio, syn. Platyglossus, radiatus) of Florida, Bermuda, and the West Indies. Called also pudiano, doncella, and, at Bermuda, bluefish.

Puggree (n.) A light scarf wound around a hat or helmet to protect the head from the sun.

Pulldevil (n.) A number of fishhooks rigidly fastened back to be pulled through the water to catch fish.

Pulmotor (n.) An apparatus for producing artificial respiration by pumping oxygen or air or a mixture of the two into and out of the lungs, as of a person who has been asphyxiated by drowning, breathing poisonous gases, or the like, or of one who has been stunned by an electrical shock.

Punish (v. t.) To deal with roughly or harshly; -- chiefly used with regard to a contest; as, our troops punished the enemy.

Punkie (n.) A minute biting fly of the genus Ceratopogon or allied genus of the family Chironomidae, found in swarms in various densely wooded or mountaneous regions.

Puntello (n.) One of the points sometimes drilled as guides for cutting away superfluous stone.

Punt-out (n.) A punt made from the goal line by a player of the side which has made a touchdown to one of his own side for a fair catch, from which an attempt to kick a goal may be made.

Push button () A simple device, resembling a button in form, so arranged that pushing it closes an electric circuit, as of an electric bell.

Putt (v. t.) A stroke made on the putting green to play the ball into a hole.

Putter (n.) A club with a short shaft and either a wooden or a metal head, used in putting.

Putty (n.) A kind of gaiter of waterproof cloth wrapped around the leg, used by soldiers, etc.

Puzzle-headed (a.) Having the head full of confused notions; given to getting perplexed over simple matters; also, characteristic of persons that are so.

Pyemia (n.) A form of blood poisoning produced by the absorption of pyogenic microorganisms into the blood, usually from a wound or local inflammation. It is characterized by multiple abscesses throughout the body, and is attended with irregularly recurring chills, fever, profuse sweating, and exhaustion.

Pygmy (n.) One of a race of Central African Negritos found chiefly in the great forests of the equatorial belt. THey are the shortest of known races, the adults ranging from less than four to about five feet in stature. They are timid and shy, dwelling in the recesses of the forests, though often on good terms with neighboring Negroes.

Pajamas (n. pl.) A garment, similar to the Oriental pyjama (which see), adopted among Europeans, Americans, and other Occidentals, for wear in the dressing room and during sleep; also, a suit of drawers and blouse for such wear.

Pylon (n.) A tower, commonly of steelwork, for supporting either end of a wire, as for a telegraph line, over a long span.

Pylon (n.) Formerly, a starting derrick (the use of which is now abandoned) for an aeroplane.

Pylon (n.) A post, tower, or the like, as on an aerodrome, or flying ground, serving to bound or mark a prescribed course of flight.

Pyramid (v. i.) To enlarge one's holding or interest in a series of operations on a continued rise or decline by using the profits to buy or sell additional amounts on a margin, as where one buys on a 10% margin 100 shares of stock quoted at 100, holds it till it rises to 105, and then uses the paper profit to buy 50 shares more, etc. The series of operations constitutes a pyramid.

Pyramid (v. t.) To use, or to deal in, in a pyramiding transaction. See Pyramid, v. i.

Pyramid (n.) The series of operations involved in pyramiding. See Pyramid, v. i.

-zin () A feebly basic solid, C4H4N2, obtained by distilling piperazine with zinc dust, and in other ways. Also, by extension, any of various derivatives of the same.

Pyrolignite (n.) A crude acetate produced by treating pyroligneous acid with a metal or basic compound; as, pyrolignite of iron (iron liquor).

Pyrone (n.) An unsaturated cyclic compound, C5H4O2, of which two varieties are known, / and /. /-pyrone is the parent substance of several natural yellow dyestuffs.

Quadrille (a.) Marked with squares, generally by thin lines crossing at right angles and at equal intervals; as, quadrille paper, or plotting paper.

Quadruplane (n.) An aeroplane with four superposed main supporting surfaces.

Quadruplet (n.) A cycle for carrying four riders, so arranged that all the reders can assist in the propulsion.

Quartered (a.) Divided into four equal parts or quarters; separated into four parts or regions.

Quartered (a.) Furnished with quarters; provided with shelter or entertainment.

Quarter-saw (p. pr. & vb. n.) To saw (a log) into quarters; specif., to saw into quarters and then into boards, as by cutting alternately from each face of a quarter, to secure lumber that will warp relatively little or show the grain advantageously.

Quasi corporation () A corporation consisting of a person or body of persons invested with some of the qualities of an artificial person, though not expressly incorporated, esp. the official of certain municipal divisions such as counties, schools districts, and the towns of some States of the United States, certain church officials, as a churchwarden, etc.

Quattrocento (n. & a.) The fifteenth century, when applied to Italian art or literature; as, the sculpture of the quattrocento; quattrocento style.

Queen olive () Properly, a kind of superior olive grown in the region of Seville, Spain. It is large size and oblong shape with a small but long pit; it is cured when green, keeps well, and has a delicate flavor. Loosely, any olive of similar character.

Queer (a.) To spoil the effect or success of, as by ridicule; to throw a wet blanket on; to spoil.

Questionary (n.) A set of questions for submission to a group of persons for the purpose of bringing out their resemblances and differences in the matter considered. The questionary method is a recognized form of psychological investigation.

Quichuan (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, a linguistic stock of South American Indians, including the majority of the civilized tribes of the ancient Peruvian Empire with some wild tribes never subjugated by the Incas. Most of these Indians are short, but heavy and strong. They are brachycephalic and of remarkably low cranial capacity. Nevertheless, they represent one of the highest of native American civilizations, characterized by agricultural, military, and administrative skill rather than by science or literature, although they were adept potters, weavers, and goldsmiths, and preserved by the aid of the mnemonic quipu a body of legendary lore in part written down since the introduction of writing.

Quintuplet (n.) A cycle having five crank shafts and adapted for five riders, all of whom can assist in the propulsion.

Quirinal (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the hill Collis Quirinalis, now Monte Quirinale (one of the seven hills of Rome), or a modern royal place situated upon it. Also used substantively.

Rabat (n.) A kind of clerical scarf fitted to a collar; as, a black silk rabat.

Raceabout (n.) A small sloop-rigged racing yacht carrying about six hundred square feet of sail, distinguished from a knockabout by having a short bowsprit.

Race suicide () The voluntary failure of the members of a race or people to have a number of children sufficient to keep the birth rate equal to the death rate.

Rackarock (n.) A Sprengel explosive consisting of potassium chlorate and mono-nitrobenzene.

Racket (n.) A scheme, dodge, trick, or the like; something taking place considered as exciting, trying, unusual, or the like; also, such occurrence considered as an ordeal; as, to work a racket; to stand upon the racket.

Radial engine () An engine, usually an internal-combustion engine of a certain type (the radial type) having several cylinders arranged radially like the spokes of a complete wheel. The semiradial engine has radiating cylinders on only one side of the crank shaft.

Radiant (a.) Emitted or transmitted by radiation; as, a radiant energy; radiant heat.

Radiator (n.) Any of various devices for cooling an internal substance by radiation, as a system og rings on a gun barrel for cooling it, or a nest of tubes with large radiating surface for cooling circulating water, as in an automobile.

Radio (a.) Of or pertaining to, or employing, or operated by, radiant energy, specifically that of electric waves; hence, pertaining to, or employed in, radiotelegraphy.

Radio-active (a.) Capable of luminescence under the action of cathode rays, X rays, or any of the allied forms of radiation.

Radioconductor (n.) A substance or device that has its conductivity altered in some way by electric waves, as a coherer.

Radiograph (n.) An image or picture produced upon a sensitive surface, as of a photographic plate, by some form of radiation other than light, as the Rontgen rays, radium rays, etc.; esp., a picture of opaque objects traversed by the rays; a skiagraph.

Radiophare (n.) A radiotelegraphic station serving solely for determining the position of ships. The radius of operation of such stations was restricted by the International Radiotelegraphic Convention (1912) to 30 nautical miles.

Radioscopy (n.) Direct observation of objects opaque to light by means of some other form of radiant energy, as the Rontgen rays.

Radiotelegraphic (a.) Of or pertaining to radiotelegraphy; employing, or used or employed in, radiotelegraphy.

Radiotelegraphy (n.) Telegraphy using the radiant energy of electrical (Hertzian) waves; wireless telegraphy; -- the term adopted for use by the Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912.

Radiotherapy (n.) Treatment of disease by means of Rontgen rays or other forms of radioactivity.

Radiothorium (n.) A radioactive substance apparently formed as a product from thorium.

Radium (n.) An intensely radioactive metallic element found (combined) in minute quantities in pitchblende, and various other uranium minerals. Symbol, Ra; atomic weight, 226.4. Radium was discovered by M. and Mme. Curie, of Paris, who in 1902 separated compounds of it by a tedious process from pitchblende. Its compounds color flames carmine and give a characteristic spectrum. It resembles barium chemically. Radium preparations are remarkable for maintaining themselves at a higher temperature than their surroundings, and for their radiations, which are of three kinds: alpha rays, beta rays, and gamma rays (see these terms). By reason of these rays they ionize gases, affect photographic plates, cause sores on the skin, and produce many other striking effects. Their degree of activity depends on the proportion of radium present, but not on its state of chemical combination or on external conditions.The radioactivity of radium is therefore an atomic property, and is explained as result from a disintegration of the atom. This breaking up occurs in at least seven stages; the successive main products have been studied and are called radium emanation or exradio, radium A, radium B, radium C, etc. (The emanation is a heavy gas, the later products are solids.) These products are regarded as unstable elements, each with an atomic weight a little lower than its predecessor. It is possible that lead is the stable end product. At the same time the light gas helium is formed; it probably consists of the expelled alpha particles. The heat effect mentioned above is ascribed to the impacts of these particles. Radium, in turn, is believed to be formed indirectly by an immeasurably slow disintegration of uranium.

Raffia palm () A pinnate-leaved palm (Raphia ruffia) native of Madagascar, and of considerable economic importance on account of the strong fiber (raffia) obtained from its leafstalks.

Rag (v. t.) To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in syncopated time.

Rag (v. t.) To dance to ragtime music, esp. in some manner considered indecorous.

Ragnarok (n.) The so-called "Twilight of the Gods" (called in German Gotterdammerung), the final destruction of the world in the great conflict between the Aesir (gods) on the one hand, and on the other, the gaints and the powers of Hel under the leadership of Loki (who is escaped from bondage).

Raiffeisen (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, a form of cooperative bank founded among the German agrarian population by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (1818-88); as, Raiffeisen banks, the Raiffeisen system, etc. The banks are unlimited-liability institutions making small loans at a low rate of interest, for a designated purpose, to worthy members only.

Rail (n.) A railroad as a means of transportation; as, to go by rail; a place not accesible by rail.

Railroad (v. t.) To carry or send by railroad; usually fig., to send or put through at high speed or in great haste; to hurry or rush unduly; as, to railroad a bill through Condress.

Rakee (n.) A kind of ardent spirits used in southern Europe and the East, distilled from grape juice, grain, etc.

Rallies (v. t.) A French political group, also known as the Constitutional Right from its position in the Chambers, mainly monarchists who rallied to the support of the Republic in obedience to the encyclical put forth by Pope Leo XIII. in Feb., 1892.

Ramequin (n.) The porcelian or earthen mold in which ramequins are baked and served, by extension, any dish so used.

Ramtil (n.) A tropical African asteraceous shrub (Guizotia abyssinica) cultivated for its seeds (called ramtil, / niger, seeds) which yield a valuable oil used for food and as an illuminant.

Rancheria (n.) A small settlement or collection of ranchos, or rude huts, esp. for Indians.

Rancheria (n.) Formerly, in the Philippines, a political division of the pagan tribes.

Rangy (v. i.) Inclined or able to range, or rove about, for considerable distances; apt or suited for much roving, -- chiefly used of cattle.

Rapid-firing (a.) Capable of being fired rapidly; -- applied to single-barreled guns of greater caliber than small arms, mounted so as to be quickly trained and elevated, with a quick-acting breech mechanism operated by a single motion of a crank or lever (abbr. R. F.);

Rapid-firing (a.) In the United States navy, designating such a gun using fixed ammunition or metallic cartridge cases; -- distinguished from breech-loading (abbr. B. L.), applied to all guns loading with the charge in bags, and formerly from quick-fire. Rapid-fire guns in the navy also sometimes include automatic or semiautomatic rapid-fire guns; the former being automatic guns of not less than one inch caliber, firing a shell of not less than one pound weight, the explosion of each cartridge operating the mechanism for ejecting the empty shell, loading, and firing the next shot, the latter being guns that require one operation of the hand at each discharge, to load the gun.

Rapid-firing (a.) In the United States army, designating such a gun, whether using fixed or separate ammunition, designed chiefly for use in coast batteries against torpedo vessels and the lightly armored batteries or other war vessels and for the protection of defensive mine fields; -- not distinguished from quick-fire.

Rapid-firing (a.) In Great Britain and Europe used, rarely, as synonymous with quick-fire.

Rapid-fire mount () A mount permitting easy and quick elevation or depression and training of the gun, and fitting with a device for taking up the recoil.

Rapprochement (n.) Act or fact of coming or being drawn near or together; establishment or state of cordial relations.

Raskolnik (n.) The name applied by the Russian government to any subject of the Greek faith who dissents from the established church. The Raskolniki embrace many sects, whose common characteristic is a clinging to antique traditions, habits, and customs. The schism originated in 1667 in an ecclesiastical dispute as to the correctness of the translation of the religious books. The dissenters, who have been continually persecuted, are believed to number about 20,000,000, although the Holy Synod officially puts the number at about 2,000,000. They are officially divided into three groups according to the degree of their variance from orthodox beliefs and observances, as follows: I. "Most obnoxious." the Judaizers; the Molokane, who refuse to recognize civil authority or to take oaths; the Dukhobortsy, or Dukhobors, who are communistic, marry without ceremony, and believe that Christ was human, but that his soul reappears at intervals in living men; the Khlysty, who countenance anthropolatory, are ascetics, practice continual self-flagellation, and reject marriage; the Skoptsy, who practice castration; and a section of the Bezpopovtsy, or priestless sect, which disbelieve in prayers for the Czar and in marriage. II. "Obnoxious:" the Bezpopovtsy, who pray for the Czar and recognize marriage. III. "Least obnoxious:" the Popovtsy, who dissent from the orthodox church in minor points only.

Rathskeller (n.) Orig., in Germany, the cellar or basement of the city hall, usually rented for use as a restaurant where beer is sold; hence, a beer saloon of the German type below the street level, where, usually, drinks are served only at tables and simple food may also be had; -- sometimes loosely used, in English, of what are essentially basement restaurants where liquors are served.

Reactance (n.) The influence of a coil of wire upon an alternating current passing through it, tending to choke or diminish the current, or the similar influence of a condenser; inductive resistance. Reactance is measured in ohms. The reactance of a circuit is equal to the component of the impressed electro-motive force at right angles to the current divided by the current, that is, the component of the impedance due to the self-inductance or capacity of the circuit.

Reaction (n.) A regular or characteristic response to a stimulation of the nerves.

Rebozo (n.) A kind of mantilla worn by women over the head and shoulders, and sometimes over part of the face.

Recall (n.) The right or procedure by which a public official, commonly a legislative or executive official, may be removed from office, before the end of his term of office, by a vote of the people to be taken on the filing of a petition signed by a required number or percentage of qualified voters.

Recall (n.) Short for recall of judicial decisions, the right or procedure by which the decision of a court may be directly reversed or annulled by popular vote, as was advocated, in 1912, in the platform of the Progressive party for certain cases involving the police power of the state.

Receiver (n.) In portable breech-loading firearms, the steel frame screwed to the breech end of the barrel, which receives the bolt or block, gives means of securing for firing, facilitates loading, and holds the ejector, cut-off, etc.

Receiver's certificate () An acknowledgement of indebtedness made by a receiver under order of court to obtain funds for the preservation of the assets held by him, as for operating a railroad. Receivers' certificates are ordinarily a first lien on the assets, prior to that of bonds or other securities.

Rechauffe (v. t.) A dish of food that has been warmed again, hence, fig., something made up from old material; a rehash.

Recidivism (n.) a falling back or relapse into prior criminal habits, esp. after conviction and punishment.

Recidivist (n.) One who is recidivous or is characterized by recidivism; an incorrigible criminal.

Reconcentrado (n.) Lit., one who has been reconcentrated; specif., in Cuba, the Philippines, etc., during the revolution of 1895-98, one of the rural noncombatants who were concentrated by the military authorities in areas surrounding the fortified towns, and later were reconcentrated in the smaller limits of the towns themselves.

Reconcentrate (v. t. & i.) To concentrate again; to concentrate thoroughly.

Reconcentration (n.) The act of reconcentrating or the state of being reconcentrated; esp., the act or policy of concentrating the rural population in or about towns and villages for convenience in political or military administration, as in Cuba during the revolution of 1895-98.

Recovery (n.) Act of regaining the position of guard after making an attack.

Recrudesce (v. i.) To be in a state of recrudescence; esp., to come into renewed freshness, vigor, or activity; to revive.

Red Cross () A hospital or ambulance service established as a result of, though not provided for by, the Geneva convention of 1864; any of the national societies for alleviating the sufferings of the sick and wounded war, also giving aid and relief during great calamities; also, a member or worker of such a society; -- so called from the badge of neutrality; the Geneva cross.

Red-dog flour () The lowest grade of flour in milling. It is dark and of little expansive power, is secured largely from the germ or embryo and adjacent parts, and contains a relatively high percentage of protein. It is chiefly useful as feed for farm animals.

Redevelop (v. t. & i.) to intensify (a developed image), as by bleaching with mercuric chloride and subsequently subjecting anew to a developing agent.

Redif (n.) A reserve force in the Turkish army, or a soldier of the reserve. See Army organization, above.

Red-light district () A district or neighborhood in which disorderly resorts are frequent; -- so called in allusion to the red light kept in front of many such resorts at night.

Reducer (n.) A contrivance for reducing the dimensions of one part so as to fit it to another, as a reducing coupling, or a device for holding a drilling a chuck.

Reducer (n.) A hydraulic device for reducing pressure and hence increasing movement, used to transmit the load from the hydraulic support of the lower shackle to the lever weighing apparatus in some kinds of heavy testing machines.

Reducer (n.) A reducing agent, either a developer or an agent for reducing density.

Reenforced concrete () Concrete having within its mass a system of strengthening iron or steel supports. = Ferro-concrete.

Refait (n.) a state of the game in which the aggregate pip value of cards dealt to red equals that of those dealt to black. All bets are then off; unless the value is 31, in which case the banker wins half the stakes.

Referendum (n.) The principle or practice of referring measures passed upon by the legislative body to the body of voters, or electorate, for approval or rejection, as in the Swiss cantons (except Freiburg) and in various local governments in the United States, and also in the local option laws, etc.; also, the right to so approve or reject laws, or the vote by which this is done. Referendum is distinguished from the mandate, or instruction of representatives by the people, from direct government by the people, in which they initiate and make the laws by direct action without representation, and from a plebiscite, or popular vote taken on any measure proposed by a person or body having the initiative but not constituting a representative or constituent body.

Reflet (n.) Luster; special brilliancy of surface; -- used esp. in ceramics to denote the peculiar metallic brilliancy seen in lustered pottery such as majolica; as, silver reflet; gold reflet.

Regent diamond () A famous diamond of fine quality, which weighs about 137 carats and is among the state jewels of France. It is so called from the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, to whom it was sold in 1717 by Pitt the English Governor of Madras (whence also called the Pitt diamond), who bought it of an Indian merchant in 1701.

Regidor (n.) One of a body of officers charged with the government of Spanish municipalities, corresponding to the English alderman.

Regie (n.) Direct management of public finance or public works by agents of the government for government account; -- opposed to the contract system.

Regie (n.) The system of collecting taxes by officials who have either no interest or a very small interest in the proceeds, as distinguished from the ancient system of farming them out.

Regie (n.) Any kind of government monopoly (tobacco, salt, etc.) used chiefly as a means of taxation. Such monopolies are largely employed in Austria, Italy, France, and Spain.

Regiment (v. t.) To form into classified units or bodies; to systematize according to classes, districts or the like.

Register (v. t.) To enter the name of the owner of (a share of stock, a bond, or other security) in a register, or record book. A registered security is transferable only on the written assignment of the owner of record and on surrender of his bond, stock certificate, or the like.

Reichstag (n.) The national representative body of Hungary, consisting of a House of Magnates (including archdukes, peers, high officials of the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant Churches, and certain other dignitaries) and a House of Representatives (in 1912 consisting of 453 members). See Legislative, Diet.

Rejuvenated (p. a.) Stimulated by uplift to renewed erosive activity; -- said of streams.

Rejuvenated (p. a.) Developed with steep slopes inside a district previously worn down nearly to base level; -- said of topography, or features of topography, as valleys, hills, etc.

Relay (a.) Relating to, or having the characteristics of, an auxiliary apparatus put into action by a feeble force but itself capable of exerting greater force, used to control a comparatively powerful machine or appliance.

Relay cylinder () In a variable expansion central-valve engine, a small auxiliary engine for automatically adjusting the steam distribution to the load on the main engine.

Relay governor () A speed regulator, as a water-wheel governor, embodying the relay principle.

Release (n.) A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required;

Release (n.) A catch on a motor-starting rheostat, which automatically releases the rheostat arm and so stops the motor in case of a break in the field circuit; also, the catch on an electromagnetic circuit breaker for a motor, which acts in case of an overload.

Release (n.) In the block-signaling system, a printed card conveying information and instructions to be used at intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations.

Reluctance (n.) Magnetic resistance, being equal to the ratio of magnetomotive force to magnetic flux.

Remark () A small design etched on the margin of a plate and supposed to be removed after the earliest proofs have been taken; also, any feature distinguishing a particular stage of the plate.

Remark () A print or proof so distinguished; -- commonly called a Remarque proof.

Remise (n.) A livery carriage of a kind superior to an ordinary fiacre; -- so called because kept in a remise.

Rent (n.) That portion of the produce of the earth paid to the landlord for the use of the "original and indestructible powers of the soil;" the excess of the return from a given piece of cultivated land over that from land of equal area at the "margin of cultivation." Called also economic, / Ricardian, rent. Economic rent is due partly to differences of productivity, but chiefly to advantages of location; it is equivalent to ordinary or commercial rent less interest on improvements, and nearly equivalent to ground rent.

Rent (n.) Loosely, a return or profit from a differential advantage for production, as in case of income or earnings due to rare natural gifts creating a natural monopoly.

Repoussage (n.) Art or process of hammering out or pressing thin metal from the reverse side: (1) in producing repousse work; (2) in leveling up any part of an etched plate that has been worked so as to cause a depression.

Reproducer (n.) In a phonograph, a device containing a sounding diaphragm and the needle or stylus that traverses the moving record, for reproducing the sound.

Reproducer (n.) In a manograph, a device for reproducing the engine stroke on a reduced scale.

Reseau (n.) A system of lines forming small squares of standard size, which is photographed, by a separate exposure, on the same plate with star images to facilitate measurements, detect changes of the film, etc.

Reseau (n.) In lace, a ground or foundation of regular meshes, like network.

Reserve (n.) That part of the assets of a bank or other financial institution specially kept in cash in a more or less liquid form as a reasonable provision for meeting all demands which may be made upon it;

Reserve (n.) Usually, the uninvested cash kept on hand for this purpose, called the real reserve. In Great Britain the ultimate real reserve is the gold kept on hand in the Bank of England, largely represented by the notes in hand in its own banking department; and any balance which a bank has with the Bank of England is a part of its reserve. In the United States the reserve of a national bank consists of the amount of lawful money it holds on hand against deposits, which is required by law to be not less than 15 per cent (U. S. Rev. Stat. secs. 5191, 5192), three fifths of which the banks not in a reserve city (which see) may keep deposited as balances in national banks that are in reserve cities (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5192).

Reserve (n.) The amount of funds or assets necessary for a company to have at any given time to enable it, with interest and premiums paid as they shall accure, to meet all claims on the insurance then in force as they would mature according to the particular mortality table accepted. The reserve is always reckoned as a liability, and is calculated on net premiums. It is theoretically the difference between the present value of the total insurance and the present value of the future premiums on the insurance. The reserve, being an amount for which another company could, theoretically, afford to take over the insurance, is sometimes called the reinsurance fund or the self-insurance fund. For the first year upon any policy the net premium is called the initial reserve, and the balance left at the end of the year including interest is the terminal reserve. For subsequent years the initial reserve is the net premium, if any, plus the terminal reserve of the previous year. The portion of the reserve to be absorbed from the initial reserve in any year in payment of losses is sometimes called the insurance reserve, and the terminal reserve is then called the investment reserve.

Reserve (n.) In exhibitions, a distinction which indicates that the recipient will get a prize if another should be disqualified.

Reserve (n.) A preparation used on an object being electroplated to fix the limits of the deposit.

Reserve city () In the national banking system of the United States, any of certain cities in which the national banks are required (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5191) to keep a larger reserve (25 per cent) than the minimum (15 per cent) required of all other banks. The banks in certain of the reserve cities (specifically called central reserve cities) are required to keep their reserve on hand in cash; banks in other reserve cities may keep half of their reserve as deposits in these banks (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5195).

Residencia (n.) In Spanish countries, a court or trial held, sometimes as long as six months, by a newly elected official, as the governor of a province, to examine into the conduct of a predecessor.

Resist (n.) A substance applied to a surface, as of metal, to prevent the action on it of acid or other chemical agent.

Resistance frame () A rheostat consisting of an open frame on which are stretched spirals of wire. Being freely exposed to the air, they radiate heat rapidly.

Resonance (n.) An electric phenomenon corresponding to that of acoustic resonance, due to the existance of certain relations of the capacity, inductance, resistance, and frequency of an alternating circuit.

Resonant (a.) Adjusted as to dimensions (as an electric circuit) so that currents or electric surgings are produced by the passage of electric waves of a given frequency.

Resonator (n.) An open box for containing a sounder and designed to concentrate and amplify the sound.

Resonator (n.) Any of various apparatus for exhibiting or utilizing the effects of resonance in connection with open circuits, as a device having an oscillating circuit which includes a helix of bare copper wire, a variable number of coils of which can be connected in circuit with a condenser and spark gap excited with an induction coil. It is used to create high-frequency electric brush discharges.

Resonator (n.) The antenna system and other high-frequency circuits of a receiving apparatus.

Resorption (n.) The redissolving wholly or in part, in the molten magma of an igneous rock, of crystals previously formed. The dissolved material may again solidify, giving rise to a mass of small crystals, usually of a different kind.

Rest cure () Treatment of severe nervous disorder, as neurasthenia, by rest and isolation with systematic feeding and the use of massage and electricity.

Retarder (n.) Any of various devices, as a helix of flat metal strip, introduced into a boiler tube to increase the heating effect of the fire.

Retarder (n.) A substance, as potassium bromide, added to a developer to retard its action.

Revers (n.) A part turned or folded back so as to show the inside, or a piece put on in imitation of such a part, as the lapel of a coat.

Rez-de-chaussee (v. t.) The ground story of a building, either on a level with the street or raised slightly above it; -- said esp. of buildings on the continent of Europe.

Rheocrat (n.) A kind of motor speed controller permitting of very gradual variation in speed and of reverse. It is especially suitable for use with motor driven machine tools.

Rifacimento (n.) A remaking or recasting; an adaptation, esp. of a literary work or musical composition.

Riffle (n.) A ripple in a stream or current of water; also, a place where the water ripples, as on a shallow rapid.

Rigger (n.) A long slender, and pointed sable brush for making fine lines, etc.; -- said to be so called from its use by marine painters for drawing the lines of the rigging.

Rigolette (n.) A woman's light scarflike head covering, usually knit or crocheted of wool.

Rigorism (n.) Strictness in ethical principles; -- usually applied to ascetic ethics, and opposed to ethical latitudinarianism.

Rim-fire (a.) Having the percussion fulminate in a rim surrounding the base, distinguished from center-fire; -- said of cartridges; also, using rim-fire cartridges; as, a rim-fire gun. Such cartridges are now little used.

Rincon (n.) An interior corner; a nook; hence, an angular recess or hollow bend in a mountain, river, cliff, or the like.

Ring armature () An armature for a dynamo or motor having the conductors wound on a ring.

Ring winding () Armature winding in which the wire is wound round the outer and inner surfaces alternately of an annular or cylindrical core.

Rip cord () A cord by which the gas bag of a balloon may be ripped open for a limited distance to release the gas quickly and so cause immediate descent.

bill () An act or a bill conferring upon a chief executive, as a governor or mayor, large powers of appointment and removal of heads of departments or other subordinate officials.

Ripping panel () A long patch, on a balloon, to be ripped off, by the rip cord, at landing, in order to allow the immediate escape of gas and instant deflation of the bag.

Rise (v. i.) To cause to rise; as, to rise a fish, or cause it to come to the surface of the water; to rise a ship, or bring it above the horizon by approaching it; to raise.

Risquee (a. fem.) Hazardous; risky; esp., fig., verging upon impropriety; dangerously close to, or suggestive of, what is indecent or of doubtful morality; as, a risque story.

Riviere (n.) A necklace of diamonds or other precious stones, esp. one of several strings.

Roaring forties () The middle latitudes of the southern hemisphere. So called from the boisterous and prevailing westerly winds, which are especially strong in the South Indian Ocean up to 50¡ S.

Robalo (n.) Any of several pikelike marine fishes of the West Indies and tropical America constituting the family Oxylabracidae, esp. the largest species (Oxylabrax, syn. Centropomus, undecimalis), a valuable food fish called also snook, the smaller species being called Rob`a*li"to (/).

Rocaille (n.) Artificial rockwork made of rough stones and cement, as for gardens.

Rocaille (n.) The rococo system of scroll ornament, based in part on the forms of shells and water-worn rocks.

Roe, Richard () A fictious name for a party, real or fictious, to an act or proceeding. Other names were formerly similarly used, as John-a-Nokes, John o', or of the, Nokes, or Noakes, John-a-Stiles, etc.

Roger (n.) A black flag with white skull and crossbones, formerly used by pirates; -- called also Jolly Roger.

Roller coaster () An amusement railroad in which cars coast by gravity over a long winding track, with steep pitches and ascents.

Rollichie () A kind of sausage, made in a bag of tripe, sliced and fried, famous among the Dutch of New Amsterdam and still known, esp. in New Jersey.

Romajikai (n.) An association, including both Japanese and Europeans, having for its object the changing of the Japanese method of writing by substituting Roman letters for Japanese characters.

Roman calendar () The calendar of the ancient Romans, from which our modern calendars are derived. It is said to have consisted originally of ten months, Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December, having a total of 304 days. Numa added two months, Januarius at the beginning of the year, and Februarius at the end, making in all 355 days. He also ordered an intercalary month, Mercedinus, to be inserted every second year. Later the order of the months was changed so that January should come before February. Through abuse of power by the pontiffs to whose care it was committed, this calendar fell into confusion. It was replaced by the Julian calendar. In designating the days of the month, the Romans reckoned backward from three fixed points, the calends, the nones, and the ides. The calends were always the first day of the month. The ides fell on the 15th in March, May, July (Quintilis), and October, and on the 13th in other months. The nones came on the eighth day (the ninth, counting the ides) before the ides. Thus, Jan. 13 was called the ides of January, Jan. 12, the day before the ides, and Jan. 11, the third day before the ides (since the ides count as one), while Jan. 14 was the 19th day before the calends of February.

Ronin (n.) In Japan, under the feudal system, a samurai who had renounced his clan or who had been discharged or ostracized and had become a wanderer without a lord; an outcast; an outlaw.

Rontgen (a.) Of or pertaining to the German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen, or the rays discovered by him; as, Rontgen apparatus.

Rontgenize (v. t.) To render (air or other gas) conducting by the passage of Rontgen rays.

Rontgen ray () Any of the rays produced when cathode rays strike upon surface of a solid (as the wall of the vacuum tube). Rontgen rays are noted for their penetration of many opaque substances, as wood and flesh, their action on photographic plates, and their fluorescent effects. They were called X rays by their discoverer, W. K. Rontgen. They also ionize gases, but cannot be reflected, or polarized, or deflected by a magnetic field. They are regarded as nonperiodic, transverse pulses in the ether. They are used in examining opaque objects, as for locating fractures or bullets in the human body.

Root (v. i.) To shout for, or otherwise noisly applaud or encourage, a contestant, as in sports; hence, to wish earnestly for the success of some one or the happening of some event, with the superstitious notion that this action may have efficacy; -- usually with for; as, the crowd rooted for the home team.

Roque (n.) A form of croquet modified for greater accuracy of play. The court has a wood border often faced with rubber, used as a cushion in bank shots. The balls are 3/ in. in diameter, the cage (center arches or wickets) 3/ in. wide, the other arches 3/ in. wide.

Roquefort (n.) A highly flavored blue-molded cheese, made at Roquefort, department of Aveyron, France. It is made from milk of ewes, sometimes with cow's milk added, and is cured in caves. Improperly, a cheese made in imitation of it.

Rossel current () A portion of the southern equatorial current flowing westward from the Fiji Islands to New Guinea.

Rotograph (n.) A photograph printed by a process in which a strip or roll of sensitized paper is automatically fed over the negative so that a series of prints are made, and are then developed, fixed, cut apart, and washed at a very rapid rate.

Roture (n.) A feudal tenure of lands by one who has no privileges of nobility, but is permitted to discharge all his obligations to his feudal lord or superior by a payment of rent in money or kind and without rendering any personal services.

Roughrider (n.) An officer or enlisted man in the 1st U. S. Volunteer Cavalry, a regiment raised for the Spanish war of 1898, composed mostly of Western cowboys and hunters and Eastern college athletes and sportsmen, largely organized, and later commanded, by Theodore Roosevelt. Sometimes, locally, a member of any of various volunteer cavalry commands raised in 1898.

Roulette (n.) A small toothed wheel used to make short incisions in paper, as a sheet of postage stamps to facilitate their separation.

Roulette (v. t.) To make short incisions in with a roulette; to separate by incisions made with a roulette; as, to roulette a sheet of postage stamps.

Roumanian (n.) An inhabitant of Roumania; also, the language of Roumania, one of the Romance or Romanic languages descended from Latin, but containing many words from other languages, as Slavic, Turkish, and Greek.

Round-up (n.) A rounding up, or upward curvature or convexity, as in the deck of a vessel.

Round-up (n.) A gathering in of scattered persons or things; as, s round-up of criminals.

Router (n.) A machine with a rapidly revolving vertical spindle and cutter for scooping out the surface of wood or metal, as between and around the engraved parts of an electrotype.

Royal spade () A spade when spades are trumps under the condition that every trick over six taken by the successful bidder has a score value of 9; -- usually in pl.

Rubaiyat (n. pl.) Quatrians; as, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Sometimes in pl. construed as sing., a poem in such stanzas.

Rubberize (v. t.) To coat or impregnate with rubber or a rubber solution or preparation, as silk.

Rudbeckia (n.) A genus of composite plants, the coneflowers, consisting of perennial herbs with showy pedunculate heads, having a hemispherical involucre, sterile ray flowers, and a conical chaffy receptacle. There are about thirty species, exclusively North American. Rudbeckia hirta, the black-eyed Susan, is a common weed in meadows.

Rudder (n.) In an aircraft, a surface the function of which is to exert a turning moment about an axis of the craft.

Run (n.) A number of cards of the same suit in sequence; as, a run of four in hearts.

Run (n.) The distance a ball travels after touching the ground from a stroke.

Run (v. t.) To strike (the ball) in such a way as to cause it to run along the ground, as when approaching a hole.

Run-around (n.) A whitlow running around the finger nail, but not affecting the bone.

Running load () The air pressure supported by each longitudinal foot segment of a wing.

Running load () Commonly, the whole weight of aeroplane and load divided by the span, or length from tip to tip.

Russian Church () The established church of the Russian empire. It forms a portion, by far the largest, of the Eastern Church and is governed by the Holy Synod. The czar is the head of the church, but he has never claimed the right of deciding questions of theology and dogma.

Sabotage (n.) Malicious waste or destruction of an employer's property or injury to his interests by workmen during labor troubles.

Saddle (n.) A ridge connected two higher elevations; a low point in the crest line of a ridge; a col.

Saddle (n.) A formation of gold-bearing quartz occurring along the crest of an anticlinal fold, esp. in Australia.

Saengerbund (n.) A singers' union; an association of singers or singing clubs, esp. German.

Safety bicycle () A bicycle with equal or nearly equal wheels, usually 28 inches diameter, driven by pedals connected to the rear (driving) wheel by a multiplying gear.

Safety chain () A normally slack chain for preventing excessive movement between a truck and a car body in sluing.

Safety chain () An auxiliary watch chain, secured to the clothes, usually out of sight, to prevent stealing of the watch.

Safety chain () A chain of sheet metal links with an elongated hole through each broad end, made up by doubling the first link on itself, slipping the next link through and doubling, and so on.

Saint-Simonism (n.) A system of socialism in which the state owns all the property and the laborer is entitled to share according to the quality and amount of his work, founded by Saint Simon (1760-1825).

Sakiyeh (n.) A kind of water wheel used in Egypt for raising water, from wells or pits, in buckets attached to its periphery or to an endless rope.

Salon (n.) An apartment for the reception and exhibition of works of art; hence, an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, etc., held in Paris by the Society of French Artists; -- sometimes called the Old Salon. New Salon is a popular name for an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, etc., held in Paris at the Champs de Mars, by the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts), a body of artists who, in 1890, seceded from the Societe des Artistes Francais (Society of French Artists).

Sambo (n.) A negro; sometimes, the offspring of a black person and a mulatto.

Sambo (n.) In Central America, an Indian and negro half-breed, or mixed blood.

Samisen (n.) A Japanese musical instrument with three strings, resembling a guitar or banjo.

Samp (n.) An article of food consisting of maize broken or bruised, which is cooked by boiling, and usually eaten with milk; coarse hominy.

Samurai (n. pl. & sing.) In the former feudal system of Japan, the class or a member of the class, of military retainers of the daimios, constituting the gentry or lesser nobility. They possessed power of life and death over the commoners, and wore two swords as their distinguishing mark. Their special rights and privileges were abolished with the fall of feudalism in 1871.

Sancho pedro () A variety of auction pitch in which the nine (sancho) and five (pedro) of trumps are added as counting cards at their pip value, and the ten of trumps counts game.

Sand-lot (a.) Lit., of or pert. to a lot or piece of sandy ground, -- hence, pert. to, or characteristic of, the policy or practices of the socialistic or communistic followers of the Irish agitator Denis Kearney, who delivered many of his speeches in the open sand lots about San Francisco; as, the sand-lot constitution of California, framed in 1879, under the influence of sand-lot agitation.

sandlot () a vacant lot; -- used especially in reference to informal games played by children; as, sandlot baseball.

San Jose scale () A very destructive scale insect (Aspidiotus perniciosus) that infests the apple, pear, and other fruit trees. So called because first introduced into the United States at San Jose, California.

Satinette (n.) One of a breed of fancy frilled pigeons allied to the owls and turbits, having the body white, the shoulders tricolored, and the tail bluish black with a large white spot on each feather.

Satin weave () A style of weaving producing smooth-faced fabric in which the warp interlaces with the filling at points distributed over the surface.

Saxony yarn () A fine grade of woolen yarn twisted somewhat harder and smoother than zephyr yarn.

Scab (n.) Any one of various more or less destructive fungus diseases attacking cultivated plants, and usually forming dark-colored crustlike spots.

Scarabaeus (n.) A conventionalized representation of a beetle, with its legs held closely at its sides, carved in natural or made in baked clay, and commonly having an inscription on the flat underside.

Scavenge (v. i.) To remove the burned gases from the cylinder after a working stroke; as, this engine does not scavenge well.

Scavenge (v. t.) To remove (burned gases) from the cylinder after a working stroke.

Scavenging (n.) Act or process of expelling the exhaust gases from the cylinder by some special means, as, in many four-cycle engines, by utilizing the momentum of the exhaust gases in a long exhaust pipe.

Schatchen (n.) A person whose business is marriage brokage; a marriage broker, esp. among certain Jews.

Schizont (n.) In certain Sporozoa, a cell formed by the growth of a sporozoite or merozoite (in a cell or corpuscle of the host) which segment by superficial cleavage, without encystment or conjugation, into merozoites.

Sclaff (v. i.) To scrape the ground with the sole of the club, before striking the ball, in making a stroke.

Sclaff (v. t.) To scrape (the club) on the ground, in a stroke, before hitting the ball; also, to make (a stroke) in that way.

Sclaff (n.) A slight blow; a slap; a soft fall; also, the accompanying noise.

Scorch (v. i.) To ride or drive at great, usually at excessive, speed; -- applied chiefly to automobilists and bicyclists. [Colloq.]

Scotch rite () The ceremonial observed by one of the Masonic systems, called in full the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite; also, the system itself, which confers thirty-three degrees, of which the first three are nearly identical with those of the York rite.

Scour (n.) A place scoured out by running water, as in the bed of a stream below a fall.

Scrag (v. t.) To seize, pull, or twist the neck of; specif., to hang by the neck; to kill by hanging.

Scrambled eggs () Eggs of which the whites and yolks are stirred together while cooking, or eggs beaten slightly, often with a little milk, and stirred while cooking.

Scrapple (n.) An article of food made by boiling together bits or scraps of meat, usually pork, and flour or Indian meal.

Scratch (n.) In various sports, the line from which the start is made, except in the case of contestants receiving a distance handicap.

runner () One that starts from the scratch; hence, one of first-rate ability.

Screen (n.) An erection of white canvas or wood placed on the boundary opposite a batsman to enable him to see ball better.

Scrub (n.) Vegetation of inferior quality, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush. See Brush, above.

Scrutin de liste () Voting for a group of candidates for the same kind of office on one ticket or ballot, containing a list of them; -- the method, used in France, as from June, 1885, to Feb., 1889, in elections for the Chamber of Deputies, each elector voting for the candidates for the whole department in which he lived, as disting. from scrutin d'arrondissement (d/`r/N`d/s`m/N"), or voting by each elector for the candidate or candidates for his own arrondissement only.

Sealskin (n.) The skin of a seal; the pelt of a seal prepared for use, esp. of the fur seal; also, a garment made of this material.

Searchlight (n.) An apparatus for projecting a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays, usually devised so that it can be swiveled about.

Secret service () The detective service of a government. In the United States, in time of peace the bureau of secret service is under the treasury department, and in time of war it aids the war department in securing information concerning the movements of the enemy.

See (v. t.) In poker and similar games at cards, to meet (a bet), or to equal the bet of (a player), by staking the same sum.

Seismogram (n.) The trace or record of an earth tremor, made by means of a seismograph.

Self (a.) Having its own or a single nature or character, as in color, composition, etc., without addition or change; unmixed; as, a self bow, one made from a single piece of wood; self flower or plant, one which is wholly of one color; self-colored.

Self-binder (n.) A reaping machine containing mechanism for binding the grain into sheaves.

Self-excite (v. t.) To energize or excite (the field magnets of a dynamo) by induction from the residual magnetism of its cores, leading all or a part of the current thus produced through the field-magnet coils.

Self-hardening (a.) Designating, or pert. to, any of various steels that harden when heated to above a red heat and cooled in air, usually in a blast of cold air with moderate rapidity, without quenching. Such steels are alloys of iron and carbon with manganese, tungsten and manganese, chromium, molybdenum and manganese, etc. They are chiefly used as high-speed steels.

Self-help (n.) The right or fact of redressing or preventing wrongs by one's own action without recourse to legal proceedings, as in self-defense, distress, abatement of a nuisance, etc.

Self-induction (n.) Induction in a circuit due to the action of one portion of a current upon an adjacent portion during periods of varying current strength. The nature of the induction is such as to oppose the action which produces it.

Self-starter (n.) A mechanism (usually one operated by electricity, compressed air, a spring, or an explosive gas), attached to an internal-combustion engine, as on an automobile, and used as a means of starting the engine without cranking it by hand.

Semasiology (n.) The science of meanings or sense development (of words); the explanation of the development and changes of the meanings of words.

Sematic (a.) Significant; ominous; serving as a warning of danger; -- applied esp. to the warning colors or forms of certain animals.

Semi-Diesel (a.) Designating an internal-combustion engine of a type resembling the Diesel engine in using as fuel heavy oil which is injected in a spray just before the end of the compression stroke and is fired without electrical ignition. The fuel is sprayed into an iron box (called a hot bulb or hot pot) opening into the combustion chamber, and heated for ignition by a blast-lamp until the engine is running, when it is, ordinarily, kept red hot by the heat of combustion.

Seminar (n.) A group of students engaged, under the guidance of an instructor, in original research in a particular line of study, and in the exposition of the results by theses, lectures, etc.; -- called also seminary.

Semitontine (a.) Lit., half-tontine; -- used to designate a form of tontine life insurance. See Tontine insurance.

Senhor (n.) A Portuguese title of courtesy corresponding to the Spanish se–or or the English Mr. or sir; also, a gentleman.

Senhora (n.) A Portuguese title of courtesy given to a lady; Mrs.; Madam; also, a lady.

Sensitometer (n.) An instrument or apparatus for comparing and grading the sensitiveness of plates, films, etc., as a screen divided into squares of different shades or colors, from which a picture is made on the plate to be tested.

Sentence method () A method of teaching reading by giving first attention to phrases and sentences and later analyzing these into their verbal and alphabetic components; -- contrasted with alphabet and word methods.

Sephardic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the Jews (the Sephardim, also called Spanish or Portuguese Jews) descended from Jewish families driven from Spain by the Inquisition.

Sephardim (n. pl.) Jews who are descendants of the former Jews of Spain and Portugal. They are as a rule darker than the northern Jews, and have more delicate features.

Serac (n.) A pinnacle of ice among the crevasses of a glacier; also, one of the blocks into which a glacier breaks on a steep grade.

Series (n.) In Engler's system of plant classification, a group of families showing certain structural or morphological relationships. It corresponds to the cohort of some writers, and to the order of many modern systematists.

Series (n.) A mode of arranging the separate parts of a circuit by connecting them successively end to end to form a single path for the current; -- opposed to parallel. The parts so arranged are said to be in series.

Series winding () A winding in which the armature coil and the field-magnet coil are in series with the external circuits; -- opposed to shunt winding.

Serum-therapy (n.) The treatment of disease by the injection of blood serum from immune animals.

hat () A cap or hat worn by officers or enlisted men when full-dress uniform, or dress uniform, is not worn.

Service uniform () The uniform prescribed in regulations for active or routine service, in distinction from dress, full dress, etc. In the United States army it is of olive-drab woolen or khaki-colored cotton, with all metal attachments of dull-finish bronze, with the exceptional of insignia of rank, which are of gold or silver finish.

Servo-motor (n.) An auxiliary motor, regulated by a hand lever, for quickly and easily moving the reversing gear of a large marine engine into any desired position indicated by that of the hand lever, which controls the valve of the motor.

Servo-motor (n.) In a Whitehead torpedo, a compressed-air motor, for moving the rudders so as to correct deviations from the course.

Set (n.) Any of various standards of measurement of the fineness of cloth; specif., the number of reeds in one inch and the number of threads in each reed. The exact meaning varies according to the location where it is used. Sometimes written sett.

Set (n.) A stone, commonly of granite, shaped like a short brick and usually somewhat larger than one, used for street paving. Commonly written sett.

Set (n.) The manner, state, or quality of setting or fitting; fit; as, the set of a coat.

Set chisel () A kind of chisel or punch, variously shaped, with a broad flat end, used for stripping off rivet heads, etc.

Setting-up exercise () Any one of a series of gymnastic exercises used, as in drilling recruits, for the purpose of giving an erect carriage, supple muscles, and an easy control of the limbs.

Shade (n.) To undergo or exhibit minute difference or variation, as of color, meaning, expression, etc.; to pass by slight changes; -- used chiefly with a preposition, as into, away, off.

Shakudo (n.) An alloy of copper, invented by the Japanese, having a very dark blue color approaching black.

Shasta Sam () A game like California Jack, except that the pack drawn from is turned face down.

Shell (n.) A case or cartridge containing a charge of explosive material, which bursts after having been thrown high into the air. It is often elevated through the agency of a larger firework in which it is contained.

Shell (n.) A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.

Sherardize (v. t.) To subject to the process of vapor galvanizing (which see, below).

Shin Shu () The leading and most progressive Buddhist sect of Japan, resting its faith rather upon Amida than Gautama Buddha. Rites and ceremonies are held useless without uprightness.

Shintyan (n.) A kind of wide loose drawers or trousers worn by women in Mohammedan countries.

Shipping note () A document used in shipping goods by sea. In the case of free goods the shipping notes are the receiving note, addressed by the shipper to the chief officer of the vessel, requesting him to receive on board specified goods, and a receipt for the mate to sign, on receiving whose signature it is called the mate's receipt, and is surrendered by the shipper for the bills of lading.

Ship railway () An inclined railway running into the water with a cradelike car on which a vessel may be drawn out on land, as for repairs.

Ship railway () A railway on which to transport vessels overland between bodies of water.

Shire horse () One of an English breed of heavy draft horses believed to be descended largely from the horses used in war in the days of heavy armor. They are the largest of the British draft breeds, and have long hair on the back of the cannons and fetlocks. Brown or bay with white on the face and legs is now the commonest color.

Shirt waist () A belted waist resembling a shirt in plainness of cut and style, worn by women or children; -- in England called a blouse.

Shirt-waist suit () A costume consisting of a plain belted waist and skirt of the same material.

Shizoku (n. sing. & pl.) The Japanese warrior gentry or middle class, formerly called samurai; also, any member of this class.

Shock (v. t.) To subject to the action of an electrical discharge so as to cause a more or less violent depression or commotion of the nervous system.

Shoddy (v. t.) Fluffy, fibrous waste from wool carding, worsted spinning, or weaving of woolens.

Shoddy fever () A febrile disease characterized by dyspnoea and bronchitis caused by inhaling dust.

Shoe (n.) The outer cover or tread of a pneumatic tire, esp. for an automobile.

Shoefly (n.) A contrivance for throwing the track temporarily to one side for convenience in filling washouts or effecting other repairs.

Shoefly (n.) In some cylinder presses, a device with long fingers for freeing the sheet from the cylinder.

Shop (n.) A person's occupation, business, profession, or the like, as a subject of attention, interest, conversation, etc.; -- generally in deprecation.

Shop (n.) any of the various places of business which are commonly called offices, as of a lawyer, doctor, broker, etc.

shop talk () discussion about a matters pertaining to person's occupation; -- often used of such discussions when conducted outside of working hours, as in social gatherings.

Shot (n.) A spherical weight, to be put, or thrown, in competition for distance.

Shot (n.) A stroke or propulsive action in certain games, as in billiards, hockey, curling, etc.; also, a move, as in chess.

Shot samples () Samples taken for assay from a molten metallic mass pouring a portion into water, to granulate it.

Shoulder (v. i.) To push with the shoulder; to make one's way, as through a crowd, by using the shoulders; to move swaying the shoulders from side to side.

Shout (v. i.) To entertain with refreshments or the like gratuitously; to treat.

Shout (v. t.) To treat (one) to something; also, to give (something) by way of treating.

Shout (n.) A gratuitous entertainment, with refreshments or the like; a treat.

Shrine (n.) Short for Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a secret order professedly originated by one Kalif Alu, a son-in-law of Mohammed, at Mecca, in the year of the Hegira 25 (about 646 a. d.) In the modern order, established in the United States in 1872, only Knights Templars or thirty-second degree Masons are eligible for admission, though the order itself is not Masonic.

Shroffage (n.) A money dealer's commission; also, more commonly, the examination of coins, and the separation of the good from the debased.

Shropshire (n.) An English breed of black-faced hornless sheep similar to the Southdown, but larger, now extensively raised in many parts of the world.

Shuck (v. t.) To remove or take off (shucks); hence, to discard; to lay aside; -- usually with off.

Shunting (vb. n.) Arbitrage conducted between certain local markets without the necessity of the exchange involved in foreign arbitrage.

Shunt valve () A valve permitting a fluid under pressure an easier avenue of escape than normally; specif., a valve, actuated by the governor, used in one system of marine-engine governing to connect both ends of the low-pressure cylinder as a supplementary control.

Shunt winding () A winding so arranged as to divide the armature current and lead a portion of it around the field-magnet coils; -- opposed to series winding.

Shutter (n.) A mechanical device of various forms, attached to a camera for opening and closing to expose the plate.

Shy (a.) Inadequately supplied; short; lacking; as, the team is shy two players.

Side-chain theory () A theory proposed by Ehrlich as a chemical explanation of immunity phenomena. In brief outline it is as follows: Animal cells and bacteria are complex aggregations of molecules, which are themselves complex. Complex molecules react with one another through certain of their side chains, but only when these side chains have a definite correspondence in structure (this account for the specific action of antitoxins).

Sideflash (n.) A disruptive discharge between a conductor traversed by an oscillatory current of high frequency (as lightning) and neighboring masses of metal, or between different parts of the same conductor.

Side line () Specif., a line for hobbling an animal by connecting the fore and the hind feet of the same side.

Side line () A line of goods sold in addition to one's principal articles of trade; a course of business pursued aside from one's regular occupation.

Side line () A secondary road; esp., a byroad at right angles to a main road.

Sidetrack (v. t.) Hence, fig., to divert or reduce to a position or condition that is relatively secondary or subordinate in activity, importance, effectiveness, or the like; to switch off; to turn aside, as from a purpose.

Silencer (n.) Any of various devices to silence the humming noise of telegraph wires.

Silencer (n.) A device for silencing the report of a firearm shooting its projectiles singly, as a tubular attachment for the muzzle having circular plates that permit the passage of the projectile but impart a rotary motion to, and thus retard, the exploding gases.

Silk-stocking (a.) Wearing silk stockings (which among men were formerly worn chiefly by the luxurious or aristocratic); hence, elegantly dressed; aristocratic; luxurious; -- chiefly applied to men, often by way of reproach.

Silundum (n.) A form of silicon carbide, produced in the electric furnace, possessing great hardness, and high electrical resistance, and not subject to oxidation below 2880¡ F., or 1600¡ C.

Silver certificate () A certificate issued by a government that there has been deposited with it silver to a specified amount, payable to the bearer on demand. In the United States and its possessions, it is issued against the deposit of silver coin, and is not legal tender, but is receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues.

Silverite (n.) One who favors the use or establishment of silver as a monetary standard; -- so called by those who favor the gold standard.

Simon-pure (a.) Genuine; true; real; authentic; -- a term alluding to the comedy character Simon Pure, who is impersonated by another and is obliged to prove himself to be the "real Simon Pure."

Single-foot (v. i.) To proceed by means of the single-foot, as a horse or other quadruped.

Single-surfaced (a.) Having one surface; -- said specif. of aeroplanes or aerocurves that are covered with fabric, etc., on only one side.

Single tax () A tax levied upon land alone, irrespective of improvements, -- advocated by certain economists as the sole source of public revenue.

Singspiel (n.) A dramatic work, partly in dialogue and partly in song, of a kind popular in Germany in the latter part of the 18th century. It was often comic, had modern characters, and patterned its music on folk song with strictly subordinated accompaniment.

Sinicism (n.) Anything peculiar to the Chinese; esp., a Chinese peculiarity in manners or customs.

Sink (n.) The lowest part of a natural hollow or closed basin whence the water of one or more streams escapes by evaporation; as, the sink of the Humboldt River.

Sirdar (n.) In Turkey, Egypt, etc., a commander in chief, esp. the one commanding the Anglo-Egyptian army.

Sirocco (n.) In general, any hot dry wind of cyclonic origin, blowing from arid or heated regions, including the desert wind of Southern California, the harmattan of the west coasts of Africa, the hot winds of Kansas and Texas, the kamsin of Egypt, the leste of the Madeira Islands, and the leveche of Spain.

Skat (n.) A three-handed card game played with 32 cards, of which two constitute the skat (sense 2), or widow. The players bid for the privilege of attempting any of several games or tasks, in most of which the player undertaking the game must take tricks counting in aggregate at least 61 (the counting cards being ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2). The four jacks are the best trumps, ranking club, spade, heart, diamond, and ten outranks king or queen (but when the player undertakes to lose all the tricks, the cards rank as in whist). The value of hands depends upon the game played, trump suit, points taken, and number of matadores.

Skelp (v. t.) To form into skelp, as a plate or bar of iron by rolling; also, to bend round (a skelp) in tube making.

Sciascope (n.) A device for determining the refractive state of the eye by observing the movements of the retinal lights and shadows.

Skid (n.) A runner (one or two) under some flying machines, used for landing.

Skid (v. i.) To slide without rotating; -- said of a wheel held from turning while the vehicle moves onward.

Skid (v. i.) To fail to grip the roadway; specif., to slip sideways on the road; to side-slip; -- said esp. of a cycle or automobile.

Skid road () A road along which logs are dragged to the skidway or landing; -- called also travois, / travoy, road.

Skid road () A road having partly sunken transverse logs (called skids) at intervals of about five feet.

Skitter (v. t.) To move or pass (something) over a surface quickly so that it touches only at intervals; to skip.

Skitter (v. i.) To pass or glide lightly or with quick touches at intervals; to skip; to skim.

Skyscraper (n.) A name for the one of the fancy sails alleged to have been sometimes set above the skysail.

Slag (n.) A product of smelting, containing, mostly as silicates, the substances not sought to be produced as matte or metal, and having a lower specific gravity than the latter; -- called also, esp. in iron smelting, cinder. The slag of iron blast furnaces is essentially silicate of calcium, magnesium, and aluminium; that of lead and copper smelting furnaces contains iron.

Slag (v. i. & t.) To form, or form into, a slag; to agglomerate when heated below the fusion point.

Slam (n.) Winning all the tricks of a deal (called, in bridge, grand slam, the winning of all but one of the thirteen tricks being called a little slam).

Slash (n.) A opening or gap in a forest made by wind, fire, or other destructive agency.

Sleeve (n.) A double tube of copper, in section like the figure 8, into which the ends of bare wires are pushed so that when the tube is twisted an electrical connection is made. The joint thus made is called a McIntire joint.

Sley (n.) The number of ends per inch in the cloth, provided each dent in the reed in which it was made contained as equal number of ends.

Slice (v. t.) To hit (the ball) so that the face of the club draws across the face of the ball and deflects it.

Slip (n.) In a link motion, the undesirable sliding movement of the link relatively to the link block, due to swinging of the link.

Slip (n.) The difference between the actual and synchronous speed of an induction motor.

Slip (n.) A memorandum of the particulars of a risk for which a policy is to be executed. It usually bears the broker's name and is initiated by the underwrites.

Slog (v. t.) To hit hard, esp. with little attention to aim or the like, as in cricket or boxing; to slug.

Slope (n.) The part of a continent descending toward, and draining to, a particular ocean; as, the Pacific slope.

Slot machine () A machine the operation of which is started by dropping a coin into a slot, for delivering small articles of merchandise, showing one's weight, exhibiting pictures, throwing dice, etc.

Sloyd (n.) Lit., skilled mechanical work, such as that required in wood carving; trade work; hence, a system (usually called the sloyd system) of manual training in the practical use of the tools and materials used in the trades, and of instruction in the making and use of the plans and specifications connected with trade work. The sloyd system derives its name from the fact that it was adopted or largely developed from a similar Swedish system, in which wood carving was a chief feature. Its purpose is not only to afford practical skill in some trade, but also to develop the pupils mentally and physically.

Sludge (n.) Anything resembling mud or slush; as: (a) A muddy or slimy deposit from sweage. (b) Mud from a drill hole in boring. (c) Muddy sediment in a steam boiler. (d) Settling of cottonseed oil, used in making soap, etc. (e) A residuum of crude paraffin-oil distillation.

Sludge acid () Impure dark-colored sulphuric acid that has been used in the refining of petroleum.

Slugging match () A boxing match or prize fight marked rather by heavy hitting than skill.

Slugging match () A ball game, esp. a baseball game, in which there is much hard hitting of the ball.

Slum (v. i.) To visit or frequent slums, esp. out of curiosity, or for purposes of study, etc.

Slumgum (n.) The impure residue, consisting of cocoons, propolis, etc., remaining after the wax is extracted from honeycombs.

Slump (v. i.) To slide or slip on a declivity, so that the motion is perceptible; -- said of masses of earth or rock.

Slump (v. i.) To undergo a slump, or sudden decline or falling off; as, the stock slumped ten points.

Slump (n.) A falling or declining, esp. suddenly and markedly; a falling off; as, a slump in trade, in prices, etc.

Smash (v. t.) To hit (the ball) from above the level of the net with a very hard overhand stroke.

Smelling salts () An aromatic preparation of carbonate of ammonia and, often, some scent, to avoid or relieve faintness, headache, or the like.

Smokeless powder () A high-explosive gunpowder whose explosion produces little, if any, smoke.

Smother (n.) That which smothers or causes a sensation of smothering, as smoke, fog, the foam of the sea, a confused multitude of things.

Smothered mate () Checkmate given when movement of the king is completely obstructed by his own men.

Snap (v. t.) To catch out sharply (a batsman who has just snicked a bowled ball).

Snap (v. i.) Of the eyes, to emit sudden, brief sparkles like those of a snapping fire, as sometimes in anger.

Snap (n.) Any task, labor, set of circumstances, or the like, that yields satisfactory results or gives pleasure with little trouble or effort, as an easy course of study, a job where work is light, a bargain, etc.

Snap (a.) Done, performed, made, executed, carried through, or the like, quickly and without deliberation; as, a snap judgment or decision; a snap political convention.

Snapper (n.) A device with a flexible metal tongue for producing clicks like those of the sounder.

Snap shot () A quick offhand shot, made without deliberately taking aim over the sights.

Snap shot () An instantaneous photograph made, usually with a hand camera, without formal posing of, and often without the foreknowledge of, the subject.

Sneak current () A current which, though too feeble to blow the usual fuse or to injure at once telegraph or telephone instruments, will in time burn them out.

Sneaker (n.) Shoes with rubber or other soft soles which give no warning of one's approaching, esp. such shoes as are worn in games, as tennis.

Snider (n.) A breech-loading rifle formerly used in the British service; -- so called from the inventor.

Snipe (v. i.) To shoot at detached men of an enemy's forces at long range, esp. when not in action; -- often with at.

Snipe (v. t.) To shoot at (detached men of an enemy's force) at long range, esp. when not in action.

Snow banner () A bannerlike stream of snow blown into the air from a mountain peak, often having a pinkish color and extending horizontally for several miles across the sky.

Soar (v. i.) To fly by wind power; to glide indefinitely without loss of altitude.

Sobranje (n.) The unicameral national assembly of Bulgaria, elected for a term of five years by universal suffrage of adult males.

Sock (v. t.) To hurl, drive, or strike violently; -- often with it as an object.

Sodium sulphate () A salt well known as a catharic under the name of Glauber's salt, which term is properly applied to the hydrate, Na2SO4.10H2O.

Sole (n.) A fluid mixture of a colloid and a liquid; a liquid colloidal solution or suspension.

Solar myth () A myth which essentially consists of allegory based upon ideas as to the sun's course, motion, influence, or the like.

Solar parallax () The parallax of the sun, that is, the angle subtended at the sun by the semidiameter of the earth. It is 8."80, and is the fundamental datum.

Solid-drawn (a.) Drawn out from a heated solid bar, as by a process of spiral rolling which first hollows the bar and then expands the cavity by forcing the bar over a pointed mandrel fixed in front of the rolls; -- said of a weldless tube.

Solo (a.) Performing, or performed, alone; uncombined, except with subordinate parts, voices, or instruments; not concerted.

Solomon's seal () A mystic symbol consisting of two interlaced triangles forming a star with six points, often with one triangle dark and one light, symbolic of the union of soul and body.

Solo whist () A card game played with the full pack ranking as at whist, each player declaring for which of seven different points he proposes to play.

Somatology (n.) The science which treats of anatomy and physiology, apart from psychology.

Somatology (n.) The consideration of the physical characters of races and classes of men and of mankind in general.

Sonderclass (n.) A special class of small yachts developed in Germany under the patronage of Emperor William and Prince Henry of Prussia, and so called because these yachts do not conform to the restrictions for the regular classes established by the rules of the International Yacht Racing Union. In yachts of the sonderclass, as prescribed for the season of 1911, the aggregate of the length on water line, extreme beam, and extreme draft must be not more than 32 feet; the weight, not less than 4,035 pounds (without crew); the sail area, not more than 550 square yards; and the cost of construction (for American boats) not more than $2400. The crew must be amateurs and citizens of the country in which the yacht was built.

Sonoran (a.) Pertaining to or designating the arid division of the Austral zone, including the warmer parts of the western United States and central Mexico. It is divided into the Upper Sonoran, which lies next to the Transition zone, and the Lower Sonoran, next to the Tropical.

Sooner (n.) In the western United States, one who settles on government land before it is legally open to settlement in order to gain the prior claim that the law gives to the first settler when the land is opened to settlement; hence, any one who does a thing prematurely or anticipates another in acting in order to gain an unfair advantage.

Sortita (n.) The air sung by any of the principal characters in an opera on entering.

Sorus (n.) In parasitic fungi, any mass of spores bursting through the epidermis of a host plant.

SOS () The letters signified by the signal ( . . . --- . . . ) prescribed by the International Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912 for use by ships in distress.

Soubise (n.) A sauce made of white onions and melted butter mixed with veloute sauce.

Souffle (a.) Decorated with very small drops or sprinkles of color, as if blown from a bellows.

Sounding balloon () An unmanned balloon sent aloft for meteorological or aeronautic purposes.

Soupcon (n.) A suspicion; a suggestion; hence, a very small portion; a taste; as, coffee with a soupcon of brandy; a soupcon of coquetry.

key () A bar or key, in a typewriter or typesetting machine, used for spacing between letters.

Spad (n.) A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in underground surveying.

Spark (v. i.) To produce, or give off, sparks, as a dynamo at the commutator when revolving under the collecting brushes.

Spark coil () An induction coil, esp. of an internal-combustion engine, wireless telegraph apparatus, etc.

Spark coil () A self-induction coil used to increase the spark in an electric gas-lighting apparatus.

Spark gap () The space filled with air or other dielectric between high potential terminals (as of an electrostatic machine, induction coil, or condenser), through which the discharge passes; the air gap of a jump spark.

Spark plug () In internal-combustion engines with electric ignition, a plug, screwed into the cylinder head, having through it an insulated wire which is connected with the induction coil or magneto circuit on the outside, and forms, with another terminal on the base of the plug, a spark gap inside the cylinder.

Spat (n.) A kind of short cloth or leather gaiter worn over the upper part of the shoe and fastened beneath the instep; -- chiefly in pl.

Spectrobolometer (n.) A combination of spectroscope and bolometer for determining the distribution of energy in a spectrum.

Spectroelectric (a.) Pert. to or designating any form of spark tube the electric discharge within which is used in spectroscopic observations.

Spectroheliogram (n.) A photograph of the sun made by monochromatic light, usually of the calcium line (k), and showing the sun's faculae and prominences.

Spectroheliograph (n.) An apparatus for making spectroheliograms, consisting of a spectroscopic camera used in combination with a telescope, and provided with clockwork for moving the sun's image across the slit.

Spectrometry (n.) Art or process of using the spectrometer, or of measuring wave lengths of rays of a spectrum.

Spectrophone (n.) An instrument constructed on the principle of the photophone and used in spectrum analysis as an adjunct to the spectroscope.

Spectrophotometry (n.) The art of comparing, photometrically, the brightness of two spectra, wave length by wave length; the use of the spectrophotometer.

Spectroscopy (n.) The production and investigation of spectra; the use of the spectroscope; also, the science of spectroscopic phenomena.

Speed counter () A device for automatically counting the revolutions or pulsations of an engine or other machine; -- called also simply counter.

Speiss (n.) Impure metallic arsenides, principally of iron, produced in copper and lead smelting.

Spellbind (v. t.) To bind or hold by, or as if by, a spell or charm; to fascinate, esp. by eloquence of speech, as in a political campaign.

Spermatophyta (n. pl.) A phylum embracing the highest plants, or those that produce seeds; the seed plants, or flowering plants. They form the most numerous group, including over 120,000 species. In general, the group is characterized by the marked development of the sporophyte, with great differentiation of its parts (root, stem, leaves, flowers, etc.); by the extreme reduction of the gametophyte; and by the development of seeds. All the Spermatophyta are heterosporous; fertilization of the egg cell is either through a pollen tube emitted by the microspore or (in a few gymnosperms) by spermatozoids.

Spermism (n.) The theory, formerly held by many, that the sperm or spermatozoon contains the germ of the future embryo; animalculism.

Spider stitch () A stitch in lace making used to fill in open spaces with threads resembling a cobweb.

Spinescence (n.) The state or quality of being spinescent or spiny; also, a spiny growth or covering, as of certain animals.

Spinifex (n.) A genus of chiefly Australian grasses, the seeds of which bear an elastic spine. S. hirsutus (black grass) and S. longifolius are useful as sand binders. S. paradoxusis a valuable perennial fodder plant. Also, a plant of this genus.

Spinifex (n.) Any of several Australian grasses of the genus Tricuspis, which often form dense, almost impassable growth, their leaves being stiff and sharp-pointed.

Spinthariscope (n.) A small instrument containing a minute particle of a radium compound mounted in front of a fluorescent screen and viewed with magnifying lenses. The tiny flashes produced by the continual bombardment of the screen by the / rays are thus rendered visible.

Spit ball () A pitched ball in throwing which the pitcher grips the ball between two, or three, fingers on one side (which is made slippery, as by saliva) and the thumb on the other side, and delivers it so that it slips off the fingers with the least possible friction. When pitched directly overhand a spit ball darts downward, when pitched with the arm extended sidewise it darts down and out.

Split (n.) Any of the three or four strips into which osiers are commonly cleft for certain kinds of work; -- usually in pl.

Split (n.) Any of the air currents in a mine formed by dividing a larger current.

Split (n.) The feat of going down to the floor so that the legs extend in a straight line, either with one on each side or with one in front and the other behind.

Split (n.) A small bottle (containing about half a pint) of some drink; -- so called as containing half the quantity of the customary smaller commercial size of bottle; also, a drink of half the usual quantity; a half glass.

Split (a.) Divided so as to be done or executed part at one time or price and part at another time or price; -- said of an order, sale, etc.

Split (a.) Of quotations, given in sixteenth, quotations in eighths being regular; as, 10/ is a split quotation.

Split (a.) Designating ordinary stock that has been divided into preferred ordinary and deferred ordinary.

Split dynamometer () An electric dynamometer having two coils so arranged that one carries the primary current, and the other the secondary current, of a transformer.

Split infinitive () A simple infinitive with to, having a modifier between the verb and the to; as in, to largely decrease. Called also cleft infinitive.

stroke () In croquet, etc., a shot or stroke in which one drives in different directions one's own and the opponent's ball placed in contact.

Split stitch () A stitch used in stem work to produce a fine line, much used in old church embroidery to work the hands and faces of figures.

Spoon (v. t.) In croquet, golf, etc., to push or shove (a ball) with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.

Sporophyte (n.) In plants exhibiting alternation of generations, the generation which bears asexual spores; -- opposed to gametophyte. It is not clearly differentiated in the life cycle of the lower plants.

Sporozoite (n.) In certain Sporozoa, a small active, usually elongate, sickle-shaped or somewhat amoeboid spore, esp. one of those produced by division of the passive spores into which the zygote divides. The sporozoites reproduce asexually.

Spot (a.) on hand for immediate delivery after sale; -- said of commodities; as, spot wheat.

Spot cash () Cash paid or ready for payment at once upon delivery of property purchased.

Spotlight (n.) The projected spot or circle of light used to illuminate brilliantly a single person or object or group on the stage; leaving the rest of the stage more or less unilluminated; hence, conspicuous public notice.

Spot stroke () The pocketing of the red ball in a top corner pocket from off its own spot so as to leave the cue ball in position for an easy winning hazard in either top corner pocket.

Sprayboard (n.) A screen raised above any part of the gunwale of a boat to keep out spray.

Sprayer (n.) One that sprays; any instrument for vaporizing and spraying liquids.

Spread (n.) An arbitrage transaction operated by buying and selling simultaneously in two separate markets, as Chicago and New York, when there is an abnormal difference in price between the two markets. It is called a back spreadwhen the difference in price is less than the normal one.

Spring steel () A variety of steel, elastic, strong, and tough, rolled for springs, etc.

Sprocket (n.) A tooth or projection, as on the periphery of a wheel, shaped so as to engage with a chain.

Squash (n.) A game much like rackets, played in a walled court with soft rubber balls and bats like tennis rackets.

Squaw man () A white man who has married an Indian squaw; sometimes, one who has gained tribal rights by such a marriage; -- often a term of contempt.

Squeegee roller () A small India-rubber roller with a handle, used esp. in printing and photography as a squeegee.

Squeeze (n.) The gradual closing of workings by the weight of the overlying strata.

Squeeze (n.) Pressure or constraint used to force the making of a gift, concession, or the like; exaction; extortion.

Squelch (v. i.) To make a sound like that made by the feet of one walking in mud or slush; to make a kind of swashing sound; also, to move with such a sound.

Squilgee (v. t.) To swab, press, or treat with a squilgee; as, to squilgee a vessel's deck.

Squint (v. i.) To have an indirect bearing, reference, or implication; to have an allusion to, or inclination towards, something.

Stab culture () A culture made by inoculating a solid medium, as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire. The growths are usually of characteristic form.

Stable (a.) So placed as to resist forces tending to cause motion; of such structure as to resist distortion or molecular or chemical disturbance; -- said of any body or substance.

wires () In a theodolite, etc., horizontal cross wires or hairs equidistant from the central horizontal cross wire.

Stadium (n.) A modern structure, with its inclosure, resembling the ancient stadium, used for athletic games, etc.

Staff (n.) Plaster combined with fibrous and other materials so as to be suitable for sculpture in relief or in the round, or for forming flat plates or boards of considerable size which can be nailed to framework to make the exterior of a larger structure, forming joints which may afterward be repaired and concealed with fresh plaster.

Stage director () One who prepares a play for production. He arranges the details of the stage settings, the business to be used, all stage effects, and instructs the actors, excepting usually the star, in the general interpretation of their parts.

Stage manager () One in control of the stage during the production of a play. He directs the stage hands, property man, etc., has charge of all details behind the curtain, except the acting, and has a general oversight of the actors. Sometimes he is also the stage director.

Stagy (a.) Having an air or manner characteristic of the stage; theatrical; artificial; as, a stagy tone or bearing; -- chiefly used depreciatively.

Stall (n.) A covering or sheath, as of leather, horn, of iron, for a finger or thumb; a cot; as, a thumb stall; a finger stall.

Stampede (n.) Any sudden unconcerted moving or acting together of a number of persons, as from some common impulse; as, a stampede to the gold regions; a stampede in a convention.

Stance (n.) The position of a player's feet, relative to each other and to the ball, when he is making a stroke.

Stand (v. i.) To be, or signify that one is, willing to play with one's hand as dealt.

Star drift () Similar and probably related motion of the stars of an asterism, as distinguished from apparent change of place due to solar motion.-- ##?? = star streaming? --

Star stereogram () A view of the universe of brighter stars as it would appear to an observer transported into space outside or beyond our universe of stars.

State socialism () A form of socialism, esp. advocated in Germany, which, while retaining the right of private property and the institution of the family and other features of the present form of the state, would intervene by various measures intended to give or maintain equality of opportunity, as compulsory state insurance, old-age pensions, etc., answering closely to socialism of the chair.

Station (n.) In Australia, a sheep run or cattle run, together with the buildings belonging to it; also, the homestead and buildings belonging to such a run.

Stator (n.) A stationary part in or about which another part (the rotor) revolves, esp. when both are large;

Stator (n.) The stationary member of an electrical machine, as of an induction motor.

Stator (n.) The case inclosing a turbine wheel; the body of stationary blades or nozzles.

Step (n.) At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion.

Step-down (a.) Transforming or converting a current of high potential or pressure into one of low pressure; as, a step-down transformer.

Step-up (a.) Transforming or converting a low-pressure current into one of high pressure; as, a step-up transformer.

Sterilizer (n.) One that sterilizes anything; specif., an apparatus for sterilizing an organic fluid or mixture.

Stillson wrench () A pipe wrench having an adjustable L-shaped jaw piece sliding in a sleeve that is pivoted to, and loosely embraces, the handle. Pressure on the handle increases the grip.

Stilton (n.) A peculiarly flavored unpressed cheese made from milk with cream added; -- so called from the village or parish of Stilton, England, where it was originally made. It is very rich in fat.

Stingray (n.) Any one of numerous rays of the family Dasyatidae, syn. Trygonidae, having one or more large sharp barbed dorsal spines, on the whiplike tail, capable of inflicting severe wounds. Some species reach a large size, and some, esp., on the American Pacific coast, are very destructive to oysters.

Stitch (n.) An arrangement of stitches, or method of stitching in some particular way or style; as, cross-stitch; herringbone stitch, etc.

Stock (n.) Raw material; that out of which something is manufactured; as, paper stock.

Stock (n.) A plain soap which is made into toilet soap by adding perfumery, coloring matter, etc.

Stocking (n.) Any of various things resembling, or likened to, a stocking; as: (a) A broad ring of color, differing from the general color, on the lower part of the leg of a quadruped; esp., a white ring between the coronet and the hock or knee of a dark-colored horse. (b) A knitted hood of cotton thread which is eventually converted by a special process into an incandescent mantle for gas lighting.

Stogy (n.) A kind of cheap, but not necessary inferior, cigar made in the form of a cylindrical roll.

Stokehold (n.) The space, or any of the spaces, in front of the boilers of a ship, from which the furnaces are fed; the stokehole of a ship; also, a room containing a ship's boilers; as, forced draft with closed stokehold; -- called also, in American ships, fireroom.

Stop order () An order that aims to limit losses by fixing a figure at which purchases shall be sold or sales bought in, as where stock is bought at 100 and the broker is directed to sell if the market price drops to 98.

-ine () A substance, C14H22O2NCl, the hydrochloride of an amino compound containing benzol, used, in solution with strychnine, as a local anaesthetic, esp. by injection into the sheath of the spinal cord, producing anaesthesia below the point of introduction.

Strangle hold () In wrestling, a hold by which one's opponent is choked. It is usually not allowed.

Strato-cumulus (n.) Large balls or rolls of dark cloud which frequently cover the whole sky, esp. in winter, and give it at times an undulated appearance.

Stream clock () An instrument for ascertaining the velocity of the blood in a vessel.

Stream line () The path of a constituent particle of a flowing fluid undisturbed by eddies or the like.

Streamline (a.) Of or pert. to a stream line; designating a motion or flow that is free from turbulence, like that of a particle in a streamline; hence, designating a surface, body, etc., that is designed so as to afford an unbroken flow of a fluid about it, esp. when the resistance to flow is the least possible; as, a streamline body for an automobile or airship.

Stream wheel () A wheel used for measuring, by its motion when submerged, the velocity of flowing water; a current wheel.

Strike (n.) A sudden finding of rich ore in mining; hence, any sudden success or good fortune, esp. financial.

Strike (n.) Act of leveling all the pins with the first bowl; also, the score thus made. Sometimes called double spare.

Strike (n.) Any actual or constructive striking at the pitched ball, three of which, if the ball is not hit fairly, cause the batter to be put out; hence, any of various acts or events which are ruled as equivalent to such a striking, as failing to strike at a ball so pitched that the batter should have struck at it.

String (n.) In various indoor games, a score or tally, sometimes, as in American billiard games, marked by buttons threaded on a string or wire.

String (n.) In various games, competitions, etc., a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.

String (n.) The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; -- called also string line.

String (v. i.) To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.

Stripper (n.) A cow that has nearly stopped giving milk, so that it can be obtained from her only by stripping.

Structural shape () The shape of a member especially adapted to structural purposes, esp. in giving the greatest strength with the least material.

Structural shape () any steel or iron member of such shape, as channel irons, I beams, T beams, etc., or, sometimes, a column, girder, etc., built up with such members.

Structural steel () A kind of strong mild steel, suitable for structural shapes.

Stundist (n.) One of a large sect of Russian dissenters founded, about 1860, in the village of Osnova, near Odessa, by a peasant, Onishchenko, who had apparently been influenced by a German sect settled near there. They zealously practice Bible reading and reject priestly dominion and all external rites of worship.

Stunt (n.) A feat hard to perform; an act which is striking for the skill, strength, or the like, required to do it; a feat.

Stylus (n.) In a photograph, a pointed piece which is moved by the vibrations given to the diaphragm by a sound, and produces the indented record; also, a pointed piece which follows the indented record, vibrates the diaphragm, and reproduces the sound.

Stimy () The position of two balls on the putting green such that, being more than six inches apart, one ball lies directly between the other and the hole at which the latter must be played; also, the act of bringing the balls into this position.

Subcarbonate (n.) A carbonate containing an excess of the basic constituent.

Subcellar (n.) A cellar beneath another story wholly or partly underground; usually, a cellar under a cellar.

Subconsciousness (n.) The state or quality of being subconscious; a state of mind in which perception and other mental processes occur without distinct consciousness.

Suberization (n.) Conversion of the cell walls into cork tissue by development of suberin; -- commonly taking place in exposed tissues, as when a callus forms over a wound. Suberized cell walls are impervious to water.

Subliminal (a.) Existing in the mind, but below the surface or threshold of consciousness; that is, existing as feeling rather than as clear ideas.

Submarine (n.) A submarine boat; esp., Nav., a submarine torpedo boat; -- called specif. submergible submarine when capable of operating at various depths and of traveling considerable distances under water, and submersible submarine when capable of being only partly submerged, i.e., so that the conning tower, etc., is still above water. The latter type and most of the former type are submerged as desired by regulating the amount of water admitted to the ballast tanks and sink on an even keel; some of the former type effect submersion while under way by means of horizontal rudders, in some cases also with admission of water to the ballast tanks.

Subsistence Department () A staff department of the United States army charged, under the supervision of the Chief of Staff, with the purchasing and issuing to the army of such supplies as make up the ration. It also supplies, for authorized sales, certain articles of food and other minor stores. It is commanded by any officer of the rank of brigadier general, called commissary general, and the department is popularly called the Commissary Department.

Suede (n.) Swedish glove leather, -- usually made from lambskins tanned with willow bark. Also used adjectively; as, suede gloves.

Suggestion (n.) The control of the mind of an hypnotic subject by ideas in the mind of the hypnotizer.

Suggestive medicine () Treatment by commands or positive statements addressed to a more or less hypnotized patient.

Sulphite (n.) A person who is spontaneous and original in his habits of thought and conversation.

Sulu (n.) A member of the most prominent tribe of the Moro tribes, occupying the Sulu Archipelago; also, their language.

Sumatra leaf () A thin, elastic, uniformly light-colored tobacco leaf, raised in Sumatra and extensively used for cigar wrappers.

Sumerian (a.) Of or pertaining to the region of lower Babylonia, which was anciently called Sumer, or its inhabitants or their language.

Summum bonum () The supreme or highest good, -- referring to the object of human life.

Suncup (n.) A yellow flowered evening primrose (Taraxia, syn. Oenothera, ovata) native of California.

Sundog (n.) A fragmentary rainbow; a small rainbow near the horizon; -- called also dog and weathergaw.

Sundowner (n.) A tramp or vagabond in the Australian bush; -- so called from his coming to sheep stations at sunset of ask for supper and a bed, when it is too late to work; -- called also traveler and swagman (but not all swagmen are sundowners).

Sundrops (n.) Any one of the several species of Kneiffia, esp. K. fruticosa (syn. Oenothera fruticosa), of the Evening-primrose family, having flowers that open by daylight.

Superheat (v. t.) To heat a liquid above its boiling point without converting it into vapor.

Supertax (n.) A tax in addition to the usual or normal tax; specif., in the United Kingdom, an income tax of sixpence for every pound in addition to the normal income tax of one shilling and twopence for every pound, imposed, by the Finance Act of 1909-1910 (c. 8, ss 66, 72), on the amount by which the income of any person exceeds /3,000 when his total income exceeds /5,000.

Surcharge (n.) Something printed or written on a postage stamp to give it a new legal effect, as a new valuation, a place, a date, etc.; also (Colloq.), a stamp with a surcharge.

Surface loading () The weight supported per square unit of surface; the quotient obtained by dividing the gross weight, in pounds, of a fully loaded flying machine, by the total area, in square feet, of its supporting surface.

Surface tension () That property, due to molecular forces, which exists in the surface film of all liquids and tends to bring the contained volume into a form having the least superficial area. The thickness of this film, amounting to less than a thousandth of a millimeter, is considered to equal the radius of the sphere of molecular action, that is, the greatest distance at which there is cohesion between two particles. Particles lying below this film, being equally acted on from all sides, are in equilibrium as to forces of cohesion, but those in the film are on the whole attracted inward, and tension results.

Surrender (n.) The voluntary cancellation of the legal liability of the company by the insured and beneficiary for a consideration (called the surrender value).

Sursum corda () In the Eucharist, the versicles immediately before the preface, inviting the people to join in the service by "lifting up the heart" to God.

Swag (n.) A tramping bushman's luggage, rolled up either in canvas or in a blanket so as to form a long bundle, and carried on the back or over the shoulder; -- called also a bluey, or a drum.

Swag (n.) Any bundle of luggage similarly rolled up; hence, luggage in general.

Swagman (n.) A bushman carrying a swag and traveling on foot; -- called also swagsman, swagger, and swaggie.

Swastica (n.) A symbol or ornament in the form of a Greek cross with the ends of the arms at right angles all in the same direction, and each prolonged to the height of the parallel arm of the cross. A great many modified forms exist, ogee and volute as well as rectilinear, while various decorative designs, as Greek fret or meander, are derived from or closely associated with it. The swastika is found in remains from the Bronze Age in various parts of Europe, esp. at Hissarlik (Troy), and was in frequent use as late as the 10th century. It is found in ancient Persia, in India, where both Jains and Buddhists used (or still use) it as religious symbol, in China and Japan, and among Indian tribes of North, Central, and South America. It is usually thought to be a charm, talisman, or religious token, esp. a sign of good luck or benediction. Max MuLler distinguished from the swastika, with arms prolonged to the right, the suavastika, with arms prolonged to the left, but this distinction is not commonly recognized. Other names for the swastika are fylfot and gammadion.

Sway bar () A bar attached to the hounds, in the rear of the front axle, so as to slide on the reach as the axle is swung in turning the vehicle.

Sway bar () Either of the two bars used in coupling the front and rear sleds of a logging sled; also, the bar used to couple two logging cars.

Switch (n.) A device for shifting an electric current to another circuit, or for making and breaking a circuit.

Syllabus (n.) The headnote of a reported case; the brief statement of the points of law determined prefixed to a reported case. The opinion controls the syllabus, the latter being merely explanatory of the former.

Sylvanite (n.) A telluride of gold and silver, (Au, Ag)Te2, of a steel gray, silver white, or brass yellow. It often occurs in implanted crystals resembling written characters, and hence is called graphic tellurium. H., 1.5-2. Sp.gr., 7.9-8.3.

Symbiosis (n.) The living together in more or less imitative association or even close union of two dissimilar organisms. In a broad sense the term includes parasitism, or antagonistic, / antipathetic, symbiosis, in which the association is disadvantageous or destructive to one of the organisms, but ordinarily it is used of cases where the association is advantageous, or often necessary, to one or both, and not harmful to either. When there is bodily union (in extreme cases so close that the two form practically a single body, as in the union of algae and fungi to form lichens, and in the inclusion of algae in radiolarians) it is called conjunctive symbiosis; if there is no actual union of the organisms (as in the association of ants with myrmecophytes), disjunctive symbiosis.

Symbiotic (a.) Pertaining to, or characterized by, or living in, a state of symbiosis.

Sympathy (n.) The reciprocal influence exercised by organs or parts on one another, as shown in the effects of a diseased condition of one part on another part or organ, as in the vomiting produced by a tumor of the brain.

Sympathy (n.) The influence of a certain psychological state in one person in producing a like state in another.

Syncretism (n.) The union or fusion into one of two or more originally different inflectional forms, as of two cases.

Syndactyle (a.) Having two or more digits wholly or partly united. See Syndactylism.

Syndic (n.) One appointed to manage an estate, essentially as a trustee, under English law.

Syndicalism (n.) The theory, plan, or practice of trade-union action (originally as advocated and practiced by the French Confederation Generale du Travail) which aims to abolish the present political and social system by means of the general strike (as distinguished from the local or sectional strike) and direct action of whatever kind (as distinguished from action which takes effect only through the medium of political action) -- direct action including any kind of action that is directly effective, whether it be a simple strike, a peaceful public demonstration, sabotage, or revolutionary violence. By the general strike and direct action syndicalism aims to establish a social system in which the means and processes of production are in the control of local organizations of workers, who are manage them for the common good.

Syndicate (v. t.) To acquire or control for or by, or to subject to the management of, a syndicate; as, syndicated newspapers.

Synesis (n.) A construction in which adherence to some element in the sense causes a departure from strict syntax, as in "Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ unto them."

Synonym (n.) An incorrect or incorrectly applied scientific name, as a new name applied to a species or genus already properly named, or a specific name preoccupied by that of another species of the same genus; -- so used in the system of nomenclature (which see) in which the correct scientific names of certain natural groups (usually genera, species, and subspecies) are regarded as determined by priority.

Synonym (n.) One of two or more words corresponding in meaning but of different languages; a heteronym.

Syntonic (a.) Of or pert. to syntony; specif., designating, or pert. to, a system of wireless telegraphy in which the transmitting and receiving apparatus are in syntony with, and only with, one another.

Syntonize (v. t.) To adjust or devise so as to emit or respond to electric oscillations of a certain wave length; to tune; specif., to put (two or more instruments or systems of wireless telegraphy) in syntony with each other.

Syntonizer (n.) One that syntonizes; specif., a device consisting essentially of a variable inductance coil and condenser with a pair of adjustable spark balls, for attuning the time periods of antennae in wireless telegraphy (called also syntonizing coil).

Syntony (n.) State of being adjusted to a certain wave length; agreement or tuning between the time period of an apparatus emitting electric oscillations and that of a receiving apparatus, esp. in wireless telegraphy.

Systole (n.) The contraction of the heart and arteries by which the blood is forced onward and the circulation kept up; also, the contraction of a rhythmically pulsating contractile vacuole; -- correlative to diastole.

Syzygy (n.) The intimately united and apparently fused condition of certain low organisms during conjugation.

Table d'hote () Now, commonly, a meal, usually of several courses, in a restaurant, hotel, or the like, for which one pays a fixed price irrespective of what one orders; -- often used adjectively; as, a table-d'hote meal.

Table work () Typesetting of tabular nmatter, or the type matter set in tabular form.

Tabloid (n.) A compressed portion of one or more drugs or chemicals, or of food, etc.

Tabloid (a.) Compressed or condensed, as into a tabloid; administrated in or as in tabloids, or small condensed bits; as, a tabloid form of imparting information.

Taboo (a.) Set apart or sacred by religious custom among certain races of Polynesia, New Zealand, etc., and forbidden to certain persons or uses; hence, prohibited under severe penalties; interdicted; as, food, places, words, customs, etc., may be taboo.

Tac-au-tac (n.) The parry which is connected with a riposte; also, a series of quick attacks and parries in which neither fencer gains a point.

Tachistoscope (n.) An apparatus for exposing briefly to view a screen bearing letters or figures. It is used in studying the range of attention, or the power of distinguishing separate objects in a single impression.

Tachograph (n.) A recording or registering tachometer; also, its autographic record.

Tachometry (n.) Measurement by a tachometer; the science or use of tachometers.

Tachygraph (n.) An example of tachygraphy; esp., an ancient Greek or Roman tachygraphic manuscript.

Tachygrapher (n.) One who writes shorthand; a stenographer; esp., an ancient Greek or Roman notary.

Tachymeter (n.) An instrument, esp. a transit or theodolite with stadia wires, for determining quickly the distances, bearings, and elevations of distant objects.

Tachyscope (n.) An early form of antimated-picture machine, devised in 1889 by Otto Anschutz of Berlin, in which the chronophotographs were mounted upon the periphery of a rotating wheel.

Tacky (n.) An ill-conditioned, ill-fed, or neglected horse; also, a person in a like condition.

Tactful (a.) Full of tact; characterized by a discerning sense of what is right, proper, or judicious.

Tactical (a.) Of or pert. to military or naval tactics; hence, pert. to, or characterized by, planning or maneuvering.

Tagal (n.) One of a Malayan race, mainly of central Luzon, next to the Visayans the most numerous of the native peoples of the Philippines. Nearly all are Christians and many are highly educated.

Tagalog (n.) Any member of a certain tribe which is one of the leading and most civilized of those native of the Philippine Islands.

Tagalog (n.) The language of the Tagalogs. It belongs to the Malay family of languages and is one of the most highly developed members of the family.

Tag day () A day on which contributions to some public or private charity or fund are solicited promiscuously on the street, and tags given to contributors to wear as an evidence of their having contributed. Such solicitation is now subject to legal restriction in various places.

Tai (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, the chief linguistic stock of Indo-China, including the peoples of Siamese and Shan speech.

Tail (n.) In some forms of rope-laying machine, pieces of rope attached to the iron bar passing through the grooven wooden top containing the strands, for wrapping around the rope to be laid.

Tail (n.) In flying machines, a plane or group of planes used at the rear to confer stability.

Tailing (n.) A prolongation of current in a telegraph line, due to capacity in the line and causing signals to run together.

Tailor-made (a.) Made by a tailor or according to a tailor's fashion; -- said specif. of women's garments made with certain closeness of fit, simplicity of ornament, etc.

Tailpiece (n.) A piece for transmitting motion from the hub of a lock to the latch bolt.

Tailpiece (n.) The part of a telescope containing the adjusting device for the eyepiece, etc.

Taeping (a.) Pertaining to or designating a dynasty with which one Hung-Siu-Chuen, a half-religious, half-political enthusiast, attempted to supplant the Manchu dynasty by the Taiping rebellion, incited by him in 1850 and suppressed by General Gordon about 1864.

Taj Mahal () A marble mausoleum built at Agra, India, by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his favorite wife. In beauty of design and rich decorative detail it is one of the best examples of Saracenic architecture.

Take (v. t.) To make a picture, photograph, or the like, of; as, to take a group or a scene.

Take (v. t.) To give or deliver (a blow to); to strike; hit; as, he took me in the face; he took me a blow on the head.

Take-off (n.) The spot at which one takes off; specif., the place from which a jumper rises in leaping.

Tallboy (n.) A piece of household furniture common in the eighteenth century, usually in two separate parts, with larger drawers above and smaller ones below and raised on legs fifteen inches or more in height; -- called also highboy.

Tallith (n.) An undergarment worn by orthodox Jews, covering the chest and the upper part of the back. It has an opening for the head, and has tassels, called zizith, on its four corners.

Tallith (n.) A tasseled shawl or scarf worn over the head or thrown round the shoulders while at prayer.

Tamale (n.) A Mexican dish made of crushed maize mixed with minced meat, seasoned with red pepper, dipped in oil, and steamed.

Tambourine (n.) A South American wild dove (Tympanistria tympanistria), mostly white, with black-tiped wings and tail. Its resonant note is said to be ventriloquous.

Tam-o'-shanter (n.) A kind of Scotch cap of wool, worsted, or the like, having a round, flattish top much wider than the band which fits the head, and usually having a tassel in the center.

Tamworth (n.) One of a long-established English breed of large pigs. They are red, often spotted with black, with a long snout and erect or forwardly pointed ears, and are valued as bacon producers.

Tandem cart () A kind of two-wheeled vehicle with seats back to back, the front one somewhat elevated.

Tandem engine () A steam engine having two or more steam cylinders in line, with a common piston rod.

Tang (n.) A dynasty in Chinese history, from a. d. 618 to 905, distinguished by the founding of the Imperial Academy (the Hanlin), by the invention of printing, and as marking a golden age of literature.

Tangelo (n.) A hybrid between the tangerine orange and the grapefruit, or pomelo; also, the fruit.

Tangent spoke () A tension spoke of a bicycle or similar wheel, secured tangentially to the hub.

Tango (n.) A difficult dance in two-four time characterized by graceful posturing, frequent pointing positions, and a great variety of steps, including the cross step and turning steps. The dance is of Spanish origin, and is believed to have been in its original form a part of the fandango.

Tankage (n.) Waste matter from tanks; esp., the dried nitrogenous residue from tanks in which fat has been rendered, used as a fertilizer.

Tank vessel () A vessel fitted with tanks for the carrying of oil or other liquid in bulk.

Tannigen (n.) A compound obtained as a yellowish gray powder by the action of acetyl chloride or acetic anhydride or ordinary tannic acid. It is used as an intestinal astringent, and locally in rhinitis and pharyngitis.

Tantra (n.) A ceremonial treatise related to Puranic and magic literature; esp., one of the sacred works of the worshipers of Sakti.

Taotai (n.) In China, an official at the head of the civil and military affairs of a circuit, which consists of two or more fu, or territorial departments; -- called also, by foreigners, intendant of circuit. Foreign consuls and commissioners associated with taotais as superintendants of trade at the treaty ports are ranked with the taotai.

Tapadero (n.) One of the leather hoods which cover the stirrups of a Mexican saddle.

Tape (v. t.) To furnish with tape; to fasten, tie, bind, or the like, with tape;

Tape (v. t.) to record on audio tape or video tape; -- either directly, at the scene of the action tape, or indirectly, as from a broadcast of the action.

Tapestry beetle () A small black dermestoid beetle (Attagenus piceus) whose larva feeds on tapestry, carpets, silk, fur, flour, and various other goods.

Tappet rod () A rod carrying a tappet or tappets, as one for closing the valves in a Cornish pumping engine.

Tappoon (n.) A piece of wood or sheet metal fitted into a ditch to dam up the water so as to overflow a field.

Target (n.) A thin cut; a slice; specif., of lamb, a piece consisting of the neck and breast joints.

Tariff (n.) A tariff may be imposed solely for, and with reference to, the production of revenue (called a revenue tariff, or tariff for revenue, or for the artificial fostering of home industries (a projective tariff), or as a means of coercing foreign governments, as in case of retaliatory tariff.

Tarpeian (a.) Pertaining to or designating a rock or peak of the Capitoline hill, Rome, from which condemned criminals were hurled.

Task wage () A wage paid by the day, or some fixed period, on condition that a minimum task be performed. When the workman is paid in proportion for excess over the minimum, the wage is one for piece-work.

Tattersall's (n.) A famous horse market in London, established in 1766 by Richard Tattersall, also used as the headquarters of credit betting on English horse races; hence, a large horse market elsewhere.

Tatty (n.) A mat or screen of fibers, as of the kuskus grass, hung at a door or window and kept wet to moisten and cool the air as it enters.

Tau (n.) The nineteenth letter (/, /) of the Greek alphabet, equivalent to English t.

Tawpie (n.) A foolish or thoughtless young person, esp. a slothful or slovenly woman.

Taurid (n.) Any of a group of meteors appearing November 20-23; -- so called because they appear to radiate from a point in Taurus.

Tax certificate () The certificate issued to the purchaser of land at a tax sale certifying to the sale and the payment of the consideration thereof, and entitling the purchaser upon certain conditions and at a certain time thereafter to a deed or instrument of conveyance (called a tax deed) of the land, to be executed by the proper officer.

Taxis (n.) In technical uses, as in architecture, biology, grammar, etc., arrangement; order; ordonnance.

Taylor-White process () A process (invented about 1899 by Frederick W. Taylor and Maunsel B. White) for giving toughness to self-hardening steels. The steel is heated almost to fusion, cooled to a temperature of from 700¡ to 850¡ C. in molten lead, further cooled in oil, reheated to between 370¡ and 670¡ C., and cooled in air.

Tchick (n.) A slight sound such as that made by pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth and explosively sucking out the air at one side, as in urging on a horse.

T connection () The connection of two coils diagrammatically as a letter T, chiefly used as a connection for passing transformers. When the three free ends are connected to a source of three-phase current, two-phase current may be derived from the secondary circuits. The reverse arrangement may be used to transform from two-phase.

Teache (n.) Any, esp. the last, of the series of boilers or evaporating pans.

Teamwork (n.) Work done by a number of associates, usually each doing a clearly defined portion, but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole; as, the teamwork of a football eleven or a gun crew.

Teaser (n.) A shunt winding on field magnets for maintaining their magnetism when the main circuit is open.

Technician (n.) A technicist; esp., one skilled particularly in the technical details of his work.

Techniphone (n.) A dumb gymnastic apparatus for training the hands of pianists and organists, as to a legato touch.

Tectonic (a.) Of, pert. to, or designating, the rock structures and external forms resulting from the deformation of the earth's crust; as, tectonic arches or valleys.

Tectonics (n.) The science or art by which implements, vessels, buildings, etc., are constructed, both in relation to their use and to their artistic design.

Tee (n.) The letter T, t; also, something shaped like, or resembling in form, the letter T.

Teeing ground () The space from within which the ball must be struck in beginning the play for each hole.

Teeswater (n.) A breed of cattle formerly bred in England, but supposed to have originated in Holland and to have been the principal stock from which the shorthorns were derived.

Tee-to-tum (n.) A workingmen's resort conducted under religious influences as a counteractant to the drinking saloon.

Telautograph (n.) A facsimile telegraph for reproducing writing, pictures, maps, etc. In the transmitter the motions of the pencil are communicated by levers to two rotary shafts, by which variations in current are produced in two separate circuits. In the receiver these variations are utilized by electromagnetic devices and levers to move a pen as the pencil moves.

Telechirograph (n.) An instrument for telegraphically transmitting and receiving handwritten messages, as photographically by a beam of light from a mirror.

Telegony (n.) The supposed influence of a father upon offspring subsequent to his own, begotten of the same mother by another father.

Telegraphone (n.) An instrument for recording and reproducing sound by local magnetization of a steel wire, disk, or ribbon, moved against the pole of a magnet connected electrically with a telephone receiver, or the like.

Telegraphoscope (n.) An instrument for telegraphically transmitting a picture and reproducing its image as a positive or negative. The transmitter includes a camera obscura and a row of minute selenium cells. The receiver includes an oscillograph, ralay, equilibrator, and an induction coil the sparks from which perforate a paper with tiny holes that form the image.

Telegraph plant () An East Indian tick trefoil (Meibomia gyrans), whose lateral leaflets jerk up and down like the arms of a semaphore, and also rotate on their axes.

Telehydrobarometer (n.) An instrument for indicating the level of water in a distant tank or reservior.

Tele-iconograph (n.) An instrument essentially the same as the telemetrograph.

Tel-el-Amarna (n.) A station on the Nile, midway between Thebes and Memphis, forming the site of the capital of Amenophis IV., whose archive chamber was discovered there in 1887. A collection of tablets (called the Tel-el-Amarna, / the Amarna, tablets) was found here, forming the Asiatic correspondence (Tel-el-Amarna letters) of Amenophis IV. and his father, Amenophis III., written in cuneiform characters. It is an important source of our knowledge of Asia from about 1400 to 1370 b. c..

Telelectric (a.) Of or pertaining to transmission, as of music, to a distance by electricity.

Telelectroscope (n.) Any apparatus for making distant objects visible by the aid of electric transmission.

Telemechanic (a.) Designating, or pert. to, any device for operating mechanisms at a distance.

Telemeteorograph (n.) Any apparatus recording meteorological phenomena at a distance from the measuring apparatus, as by electricity or by compressed air; esp., an apparatus recording conditions at many distant stations at a central office.

Telemeter (n.) An apparatus for recording at a distant station the indications of physical instruments such as the thermometer, galvanometer, etc.

Telemetrograph (n.) A combination of the camera lucida and telescope for drawing and measuring distant objects.

Telemotor (n.) A hydraulic device by which the movement of the wheel on the bridge operates the steering gear at the stern.

Telenergy (n.) Display of force or energy at a distance, or without contact; -- applied to mediumistic phenomena.

Telengiscope (n.) An instrument of such focal length that it may be used as an observing telescope for objects close at hand or as a long-focused microscope.

Telephone exchange () A central office in which the wires of telephones may be connected to permit conversation.

Telephote (n.) A telelectric apparatus for producing images of visible objects at a distance.

Telephoto (a.) Telephotographic; specif., designating a lens consisting of a combination of lenses specially designed to give a large image of a distant object in a camera of relatively short focal length.

Telephotograph (n.) A photograph, image, or impression, reproduced by or taken with a telephotographic apparatus.

Telephotographic (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, the process of telephotography.

Telephotography (n.) The photography of distant objects in more enlarged form than is possible by the ordinary means, usually by a camera provided with a telephoto lens or mounted in place of the eyepiece of a telescope, so that the real or a magnified image falls on the sensitive plate.

Telephotography (n.) Art or process of electrically transmitting and reproducing photographic or other pictures at a distance by methods similar to those used in electric telegraphy.

Telescope (a.) Capable of being extended or compacted, like a telescope, by the sliding of joints or parts one within the other; telescopic; as, a telescope bag; telescope table, etc.

Telescope bag () An adjustable traveling bag consisting of two cases, the larger slipping over the other.

Telescopic sight () A sight consisting of a small telescope, as on a compass or rifle.

Teleseism (n.) A seismic movement or shock far from the recording instrument.

Teleseme (n.) A system of apparatus for electric signals providing for automatic transmission of a definite number of different signals or calls, as in connection with hotel annunciators.

Telestereograph (n.) An instrument for telegraphically reproducing a photograph.

Telethermograph (n.) A record of fluctuations of temperature made automatically at a distant station.

Telethermograph (n.) An instrument, usually electrical, making such records.

Telford (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a road pavement having a surface of small stone rolled hard and smooth, distinguished from macadam road by its firm foundation of large stones with fragments of stone wedged tightly, in the interstices; as, telford pavement, road, etc.

Telharmonium (n.) An instrument for producing music (Tel*har"mo*ny [/]), at a distant point or points by means of alternating currents of electricity controlled by an operator who plays on a keyboard. The music is produced by a receiving instrument similar or analogous to the telephone, but not held to the ear. The pitch corresponds with frequency of alternation of current.

Telltale (n.) A thing that serves to disclose something or give information; a hint or indication.

Telltale (n.) An arrangement consisting of long strips, as of rope, wire, or leather, hanging from a bar over railroad tracks, in such a position as to warn freight brakemen of their approach to a low overhead bridge.

Telpher (n.) Specif., the equipment or apparatus used in a system of electric transportation by means of carriages which are suspended on an overhead conductor, as of wire.

Telpherage (n.) Specif., electric transportation of goods by means of carriages suspended on overhead conductors, as of wire, the power being conveyed to the motor carriage by the wires on which it runs. Telpherage and telpher are sometimes applied to such systems in which the motive power is not electricity.

Temperature (n.) The degree of heat of the body of a living being, esp. of the human body; also (Colloq.), loosely, the excess of this over the normal (of the human body 98¡-99.5¡ F., in the mouth of an adult about 98.4¡).

Temper screw () A screw link, to which is attached the rope of a rope-drilling apparatus, for feeding and slightly turning the drill jar at each stroke.

Tenderloin (n.) A strip of tender flesh on either side of the vertebral column under the short ribs, in beef or pork. It consists of the psoas muscles.

Tenderloin (n.) In New York City, the region which is the center of the night life of fashionable amusement, including the majority of the theaters, etc., centering on Broadway. The term orig. designates the old twenty-ninth police precinct, in this region, which afforded the police great opportunities for profit through conniving at vice and lawbreaking, one captain being reported to have said on being transferred there that whereas he had been eating chuck steak he would now eat tenderlion. Hence, in some other cities, a district largely devoted to night amusement, or, sometimes, to vice.

Tenno (n.) Lit., King of Heaven; -- a title of the emperor of Japan as the head of the Shinto religion.

Tennysonian (a.) Of or pertaining to Alfred (Lord) Tennyson, the English poet (1809-92); resembling, or having some of the characteristics of, his poetry, as simplicity, pictorial quality, sensuousness, etc.

Terek (n.) A sandpiper (Terekia cinerea) of the Old World, breeding in the far north of eastern Europe and Asia and migrating to South Africa and Australia. It frequents rivers.

Term day () A day which is a term (as for payment of rent), or is a day in a term, as of the sitting of a court; esp., one of a series of special days, designated by scientists of different nations or stations, for making synoptic magnetic, meteorological, or other physical observations.

Terminal (a.) Pertaining to a railroad terminal; connected with the receipt or delivery of freight; as, terminal charges.

Terminal (n.) The end of a line of railroad, with the switches, stations, sheds, and other appliances pertaining thereto.

Terminal (n.) Any station for the delivery or receipt of freight lying too far from the main line to be served by mere sidings.

Terminal (n.) A rate charged on all freight, independent of the distance, and supposed to cover the expenses of station service, as distinct from mileage rate, generally proportionate to the distance and intended to cover movement expenses; a terminal charge.

Terminal (n.) A town lying at the end of a railroad; -- more properly called a terminus.

Term insurance () Insurance for a specified term providing for no payment to the insured except upon losses during the term, and becoming void upon its expiration.

Terrane (n.) A region or limited area considered with reference to some special feature; as, the terrane of a river, that is, its drainage basin.

Terreplein (n.) An embankment of earth with a broad level top, which is sometimes excavated to form a continuation of an elevated canal across a valley.

Terrine (n.) A dish or pan, originally of earthenware, such as those in which various dishes are cooked and served; esp., an earthenware jar containing some table delicacy and sold with its contents.

Terrine (n.) A kind of ragout formerly cooked and served in the same dish; also, a dish consisting of several meats braised together and served in a terrine.

Territorial waters () The waters under the territorial jurisdiction of a state; specif., the belt (often called the marine belt or territorial sea) of sea subject to such jurisdiction, and subject only to the right of innocent passage by the vessels of other states.

Tertium quid () A third somewhat; something mediating, or regarded as being, between two diverse or incompatible substances, natures, or positions.

Tesla transformer () A transformer without iron, for high frequency alternating or oscillating currents; an oscillation transformer.

Tether-ball (n.) A game played with rackets and a ball suspended by a string from an upright pole, the object of each side being to wrap the string around the pole by striking the ball in a direction opposite to the other.

-in () A hypothetical compound, C2H2N4 which may be regarded as benzene with four CH groups replaced by nitrogen atoms; also, any of various derivatives of the same. There are three isomeric varieties.

Tetrazole (n.) A crystalline acid substance, CH2N4, which may be regarded as pyrrol in which nitrogen atoms replace three CH groups; also, any of various derivatives of the same.

Texas Leaguer () A short fly that falls too far out to be handled by an infielder and too close in to be caught by an outfielder.

Text hand () A large hand in writing; -- so called because it was the practice to write the text of a book in a large hand and the notes in a smaller hand.

Thallophyta (n. pl.) A phylum of plants of very diverse habit and structure, including the algae, fungi, and lichens. The simpler forms, as many blue-green algae, yeasts, etc., are unicellular and reproduce vegetatively or by means of asexual spores; in the higher forms the plant body is a thallus, which may be filamentous or may consist of plates of cells; it is commonly undifferentiated into stem, leaves, and roots, and shows no distinct tissue systems; the fronds of many algae, however, are modified to serve many of the functions of the above-named organs. Both asexual and sexual reproduction, often of a complex type, occur in these forms. The Thallophyta exist almost exclusively as gametophytes, the sporophyte being absent or rudimentary. By those who do not separate the Myxophyta from the Tallophyta as a distinct phylum the latter is treated as the lowermost group in the vegetable kingdom.

Thalweg (n.) A line following the lowest part of a valley, whether under water or not.

Thalweg (n.) The line of continuous maximum descent from any point on a land surface, or that cutting all contours and angles.

Thermantidote (n.) A device for circulating and cooling the air, consisting essentially of a kind of roasting fan fitted in a window and incased in wet tatties.

Thermobarograph (n.) An instrument for recording simultaneously the pressure and temperature of a gas; a combined thermograph and barograph.

Thermobarometer (n.) A siphon barometer adapted to be used also as a thermometer.

Thermochroic (a.) Pert. to or designating heat rays that have undergone selective absorption and are therefore analogous to colored light rays.

Thermocurrent (n.) A current developed or set in motion by heat; specif., an electric current, in a heterogeneous circuit, due to differences of temperature between the junctions of the substances of which the circuit is composed.

Thermodin (n.) A white crystalline substance derived from urethane, used in medicine as an antipyretic, etc.

pair () A union of two conductors, as bars or wires of dissimilar metals joined at their extremities, for producing a thermoelectric current.

Thermojunction (n.) A junction of two dissimilar conductors used to produce a thermoelectric current, as in one form of pyrometer; a thermocouple.

Thermoluminescence (n.) Luminescence exhibited by a substance on being moderately heated. It is shown esp. by certain substances that have been exposed to the action of light or to the cathode rays.

Thermoneurosis (n.) A neurosis causing rise or fall of a body's temperature.

Thermophone (n.) A portable form of telethermometer, using a telephone in connection with a differential thermometer.

Thermophone (n.) A telephone involving heat effects, as changes in temperature (hence in length) due to pulsations of the line current in a fine wire connected with the receiver diaphragm.

Thermophore (n.) An apparatus for conveying heat, as a case containing material which retains its heat for a considerable period.

Thermoregulator (n.) A device for the automatic regulation of temperature; a thermostat.

Thermosiphon (n.) An arrangement of siphon tubes for assisting circulation in a liquid.

Thermostable (a.) Capable of being heated to or somewhat above 55¡ C. without loss of special properties; -- said of immune substances, etc.

Thermotank (n.) A tank containing pipes through which circulates steam, water, air, or the like, for heating or cooling; -- used in some heating and ventilation systems.

Thermotaxis (n.) The property possessed by protoplasm of moving under the influence of heat.

Thermotensile (a.) Pertaining to the variation of tensile strength with the temperature.

Theroid (a.) Resembling a beast in nature or habit; marked by animal characteristics; as, theroid idiocy.

Thigmotaxis (n.) The property possessed by living protoplasm of contracting, and thus moving, when touched by a solid or fluid substance.

Ting (n.) In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly; -- used, esp. in composition, in titles of such bodies. See Legislature, Norway.

Third-rail system () A system in which a third rail is used for carrying the current for operating the motors, the rail being insulated from the ground and the current being taken off by means of contact brushes or other devices.

Thomson process () A process of electric welding in which heat is developed by a large current passing through the metal.

Three-color (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a photomechanical process employing printings in three colors, as red, yellow, and blue.

Three-mile (a.) Of or pertaining to three miles; as, the three-mile limit, or the limit of the marine belt (the three-mile belt / zone) of three miles included in territorial waters (which see) of a state.

Three-port (a.) Having three ports; specif.: Designating a type of two-cycle internal-combustion engine in which the mixture enters the crank case through a port uncovered by the piston near the end of its stroke.

Three-torque system of control () Any system of rudders by which the pilot can exert a turning moment about each of the three rectangular axes of an aeroplane or airship.

Thrombin (n.) The fibrin ferment which produces the formation of fibrin from fibrinogen.

Throwing stick () An instrument used by various savage races for throwing a spear; -- called also throw stick and spear thrower. One end of the stick receives the butt of the spear, as upon a hook or thong, and the other end is grasped with the hand, which also holds the spear, toward the middle, above it with the finger and thumb, the effect being to bring the place of support nearer the center of the spear, and practically lengthen the arm in the act of throwing.

Thud (v. i. & t.) To make, or strike so as to make, a dull sound, or thud.

Ticker (n.) A telegraphic receiving instrument that automatically prints off stock quotations (stock ticker) and other news on a paper ribbon or "tape."

Tiddledywinks (n.) A game in which the object is to snap small disks of bone, ivory, or the like, from a flat surface, as of a table, into a small cup or basket; -- called also tiddlywinks.

Tideland (n.) Land that is overflowed by tide water; hence, land near the sea.

Tienda (n.) In Cuba, Mexico, etc., a booth, stall, or shop where merchandise is sold.

Tikor (n.) A starch or arrow-root made from the tubes of an East Indian zinziberaceous plant (Curcuma angustifolia); also, the plant itself.

Tikoor (n.) An East Indian tree (Garcinia pedunculata) having a large yellow fleshy fruit with a pleasant acid flavor.

Tileseed (n.) Any plant of the genus Geissois, having seeds overlapping like tiles on a roof.

Tilia (n.) A genus of trees, the lindens, the type of the family Tiliaceae, distinguished by the winglike bract coalescent with the peduncle, and by the indehiscent fruit having one or two seeds. There are about twenty species, natives of temperate regions. Many species are planted as ornamental shade trees, and the tough fibrous inner bark is a valuable article of commerce. Also, a plant of this genus.

Tillandsia (n.) An immense genus of epiphytic bromeliaceous plants confined to tropical and subtropical America. They usually bear a rosette of narrow overlapping basal leaves, which often hold a considerable quantity of water. The spicate or paniculate flowers have free perianth segments, and are often subtended by colored bracts. Also, a plant of this genus.

Til seed () The seed of an African asteraceous plant (Guizotia abyssinica), yielding a bland fixed oil used in medicine.

Til tree () An ill-smelling lauraceous tree (Ocotea foetens) of the Canary Islands; -- sometimes disting. as Canary Island til tree.

Timbale (n.) A seasoned preparation, as of chicken, lobster, cheese, or fish, cooked in a drum-shaped mold; also, a pastry case, usually small, filled with a cooked mixture.

Time policy () A policy limited to become void at a specified time; -- often contrasted with voyage policy.

Timer (n.) In electric ignition, an adjustable device for automatically timing the spark.

Time signature () A sign at the beginning of a composition or movement, placed after the key signature, to indicate its time or meter. Also called rhythmical signature. It is in the form of a fraction, of which the denominator indicates the kind of note taken as time unit for the beat, and the numerator, the number of these to the measure.

Tintinnabulum (n.) A bell; also, a set or combination of bells or metal plates used as a musical instrument or as a toy.

Tintometer (n.) An apparatus for the determination of colors by comparison with arbitrary standards; a colorimeter.

Tipple (n.) An apparatus by which loaded cars are emptied by tipping; also, the place where such tipping is done.

Tipster (n.) One who makes a practice of giving or selling tips, or private hints or information, esp. for use in gambling upon the probable outcome of events, as horse races.

Tipstock (n.) The detachable or movable fore part of a gunstock, lying beneath the barrel or barrels, and forming a hold for the left hand.

Tirl (v. i.) To make a ratting or clattering sound by twirling or shaking; as, to tirl at the pin, or latch, of a door.

Titan crane () A massive crane with an overhanging counterbalanced arm carrying a traveler and lifting crab, the whole supported by a carriage mounted on track rails. It is used esp. for setting heavy masonry blocks for piers, breakwaters, etc.

Titi (n.) A tree of the southern United States (Cliftonia monophylla) having glossy leaves and racemes of fragrant white flowers succeeded by one-seeded drupes; -- called also black titi, buckwheat tree, and ironwood.

Titi (n.) Any related tree of the genus Cyrilla, often disting. as white titi.

Tittup (v. i.) To behave or move in a lively or restless manner, as an impatient horse; to caper; to prance; to frisk.

Tittup (n.) The act of tittuping; lively, gay, or restless behavior or gait; a prance or caper.

Tittuppy (a.) Given to tittuping; gay; lively; prancing; also, shaky; unsteady.

Tivoli (n.) A game resembling bagatelle, played on a special oblong board or table (Tivoli board / table), which has a curved upper end, a set of numbered compartments at the lower end, side alleys, and the surface studded with pins and sometimes furnished with numbered depressions or cups.

Tlinkit (n. pl.) The Indians of a seafaring group of tribes of southern Alaska comprising the Koluschan stock. Previous to deterioration from contact with the whites they were the foremost traders of the northwest. They built substantial houses of cedar adorned with totem poles, and were expert stone carvers and copper workers. Slavery, the potlatch, and the use of immense labrets were characteristic. Many now work in the salmon industry.

Tobie (n.) A kind of inferior cigar of a long slender shape, tapered at one end.

Toby (n.) A small jug, pitcher, or mug, generally used for ale, shaped somewhat like a stout man, with a cocked hat forming the brim.

Toe drop () A morbid condition of the foot in which the toe is depressed and the heel elevated.

Tog (v. t. & i.) To put toggery, or togs, on; to dress; -- usually with out, implying care, elaborateness, or the like.

Toison d'or () Lit., the golden fleece; specif., the order of the Golden Fleece, or its jewel.

Token (n.) In a Jacquard loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

Tolerance (n.) Allowed amount of variation from the standard or from exact conformity to the specified dimensions, weight, etc., as in various mechanical operations;

Tolerance (n.) The amount which coins, either singly or in lots, are legally allowed to vary above or below the standard of weight or fineness.

Tolstoian (n.) A follower of Tolstoy, who advocates and practices manual labor, simplicity of living, nonresistance, etc., holds that possession of wealth and ownership of property are sinful, and in religion rejects all teachings not coming from Christ himself.

Tom (n.) The male of certain animals; -- often used adjectively or in composition; as, tom turkey, tomcat, etc.

Tom and Jerry () A hot sweetened drink of rum and water spiced with cinnamon, cloves, etc., and beaten up with eggs.

Tommy Atkins () Any white regular soldier of the British army; also, such soldiers collectively; -- said to be fictitious name inserted in the models given to soldiers to guide them in filling out account blanks, etc.

Tom o' Bedlam () Formerly, a wandering mendicant discharged as incurable from Bethlehem Hospitel, Eng.; hence, a wandering mendicant, either mad or feigning to be so; a madman; a bedlamite.

Tomtate (n.) A Florida and West Indian grunt (Bathystoma, / Haemulon, rimator); also, any of various allied species.

Tone (n.) Quality, with respect to attendant feeling; the more or less variable complex of emotion accompanying and characterizing a sensation or a conceptual state; as, feeling tone; color tone.

Tone (n.) Color quality proper; -- called also hue. Also, a gradation of color, either a hue, or a tint or shade.

Tone (n.) The condition of normal balance of a healthy plant in its relations to light, heat, and moisture.

Tong (n.) In China, an association, secret society, or organization of any kind; in the United States, usually, a secret association of Chinese such as that of the highbinders.

Tonga (n.) A kind of light two-wheeled vehicle, usually for four persons, drawn by ponies or bullocks.

Tonguing (vb. n.) Modification of tone for a rapid staccato effect by the performer's tongue, in playing a wind instrument, as a flute. In single tonguing only one kind of stroke is used, the tongue articulating a rapid "t;" in double tonguing, two strokes, as for "t" and "k," are alternated; in triple tonguing, "t, k, t," etc.

Tonic (a.) Characterized by continuous muscular contraction; as, tonic convulsions.

Ton mile () A unit of measurement of the freight transportation performed by a railroad during a given period, usually a year, the total of which consists of the sum of the products obtained by multiplying the aggregate weight of each shipment in tons during the given period by the number of miles for which it is carried.

Ton mileage () Ton miles collectively; esp., the total ton miles performed by a railroad in a given period.

Tonneau (n.) In France, a light-wheeled vehicle with square or rounded body and rear entrance.

Tonneau (n.) Orig., the after part of the body with entrance at the rear (as in vehicle in def. 1); now, one with sides closing in the seat or seats and entered by a door usually at the side, also, the entire body of an automobile having such an after part.

Tontine insurance () Insurance in which the benefits of the insurance are distributed upon the tontine principle. Under the old, or full tontine, plan, all benefits were forfeited on lapsed policies, on the policies of those who died within the tontine period only the face of the policy was paid without any share of the surplus, and the survivor at the end of the tontine period received the entire surplus. This plan of tontine insurance has been replaced in the United States by the semitontine plan, in which the surplus is divided among the holders of policies in force at the termination of the tontine period, but the reverse for the paid-up value is paid on lapsed policies, and on the policies of those that have died the face is paid. Other modified forms are called free tontine, deferred dividend, etc., according to the nature of the tontine arrangement.

Tool steel () Hard steel, usually crucible steel, capable of being tempered so as to be suitable for tools.

Tootle (v. i.) To toot gently, repeatedly, or continuously, on a wind instrument, as a flute; also, to make a similar noise by any means.

Top (v. t.) To cover with another dye; as, to top aniline black with methyl violet to prevent greening and crocking.

Top (v. t.) To strike the top of, as a wall, with the hind feet, in jumping, so as to gain new impetus; -- said of a horse.

Top (v. t.) To improve (domestic animals, esp. sheep) by crossing certain individuals or breeds with other superior.

Top (v. t.) To raise one end of, as a yard, so that that end becomes higher than the other.

Top (v. t.) To cut, break, or otherwise take off the top of (a steel ingot) to remove unsound metal.

Top (v. t.) To strike (the ball) above the center; also, to make (as a stroke) by hitting the ball in this way.

Topek (n.) An ESkimo house made of material other than snow, esp. one having walls of turf, driftwood, rock, or skin, and a roof of skins of the walrus or seal. In Alaska it is often partially underground and covered with timber and turf. Topeks are also used by Indians of the lower Yukon region.

Top fermentation () An alcoholic fermentation during which the yeast cells are carried to the top of the fermening liquid. It proceeds with some violence and requires a temperature of 14-30¡ C. (58-86¡ F.). It is used in the production of ale, porter, etc., and of wines high in alcohol, and in distilling.

Topi (n.) An antelope (Damaliscus corrigum jimela) having a glossy purplish brown coat. It is related to the blesbok and is native of British East Africa. Also, any of various related varieties of other districts south of the Sahara.

Toponym (n.) A name of a place; more broadly, a name, as in the binomial name of a plant, based on, or derived from, a place name, or based on the location of the thing named.

Topophone (n.) A double ear trumpet for estimating the direction from which sounds proceed, esp. for the use of navigators.

Top out () To top off; to finish by putting on a cap of top (uppermost) course (called a top`ping-out" course).

Topper (n.) Tobacco left in the bottom of a pipe bowl; -- so called from its being often taken out and placed on top of the newly filled bowl. Also, a cigar stump.

Top rake () The angle that the front edge of the point of a tool is set back from the normal to the surface being cut.

Torana (n.) A gateway, commonly of wood, but sometimes of stone, consisting of two upright pillars carrying one to three transverse lintels. It is often minutely carved with symbolic sculpture, and serves as a monumental approach to a Buddhist temple.

Torchon paper () Paper with a rough surface; esp., handmade paper of great hardness for the use of painters in water colors.

Torpedo-boat destroyer () A larger, swifter, and more powerful armed type of torpedo boat, originally intended principally for the destruction of torpedo boats, but later used also as a more formidable torpedo boat.

Torpedo body () An automobile body which is built so that the side surfaces are flush.

Torpedo boom () A spar formerly carried by men-of-war, having a torpedo on its end.

Torpedo catcher () A small fast vessel for pursuing and destroying torpedo boats.

Torpedoist (n.) One skilled in the theory or use of torpedoes; also, one who favors the use of torpedoes.

Torpedo shell () A shell longer than a deck-piercing shell, with thinner walls and a larger cavity for the bursting charge, which consists of about 130 pounds of high explosive. It has no soft cap, and is intended to effect its damage by the powerful explosion which follows on slight resistance. It is used chiefly in 12-inch mortars.

Torpedo station () A headquarters for torpedo vessels and their supplies, usually having facilities for repairs and for instruction and experiments. The principal torpedo station of the United States is at Newport, R.I.

Torpedo stern () A broad stern without overhang, flattened on the bottom, used in some torpedo and fast power boats. It prevents settling in the water at high speed.

Torpedo tube () A tube fixed below or near the water line through which a torpedo is fired, usually by a small charge of gunpowder. On torpedo vessels the tubes are on deck and usually in broadside, on larger vessels usually submerged in broadside and fitted with a movable shield which is pushed out from the vessel's side to protect the torpedo until clear, but formerly sometimes in the bow. In submarine torpedo boats they are in the bow.

Torrens system () A system of registration of titles to land (as distinct from registration of deeds) introduced into South Australia by the Real Property (or Torrens) Act (act 15 of 1857-58), drafted by Sir Robert Torrens (1814-84). Its essential feature is the guaranty by the government of properly registered titles. The system has been generally adopted in Australia and British Columbia, and in its original or a modified form in some other countries, including some States of the United States. Hence Torrens title, etc.

Torsade (n.) A twisted cord; also, a molded or worked ornament of similar form.

Torsion electrometer () A torsion balance used for measuring electric attraction or repulsion.

Torsion galvanometer () A galvanometer in which current is measured by torsion.

Torsion head () That part of a torsion balance from which the wire or filament is suspended.

Torsion meter () An instrument for determining the torque on a shaft, and hence the horse power of an engine, esp. of a marine engine of high power, by measuring the amount of twist of a given length of the shaft. Called also torsimeter, torsiometer, torsometer.

Tot (n.) Lit., so much; -- a term used in the English exchequer to indicate that a debt was good or collectible for the amount specified, and often written opposite the item.

Tot (n.) To add; to count; to make up the sum of; to total; -- often with up.

Total (v. t.) To bring to a total; to add; also, to reach as a total; to amount to.

Totalizator (n.) A machine for registering and indicating the number and nature of bets made on horse races, as in Australia and South Africa. Called also totalizer.

Totara (n.) A coniferous tree (Podocarpus totara), next to the kauri the most valuable timber tree of New Zeland. Its hard reddish wood is used for furniture and building, esp. in wharves, bridges, etc. Also mahogany pine.

post () A pole or pillar, carved and painted with a series of totemic symbols, set up before the house of certain Indian tribes of the northwest coast of North America, esp. Indians of the Koluschan stock.

Touch (v. t.) To compare with; of be equal to; -- usually with a negative; as, he held that for good cheer nothing could touch an open fire.

Touch (v. t.) To induce to give or lend; to borrow from; as, to touch one for a loan; hence, to steal from.

Touch (n.) A set of changes less than the total possible on seven bells, that is, less than 5,040.

Touring car () An automobile designed for touring; specif., a roomy car, not a limousine, for five or more passengers.

Tout (v. i.) To spy out the movements of race horses at their trials, or to get by stealth or other improper means the secrets of the stable, for betting purposes.

Tout (v. t.) To give a tip on (a race horse) to a better with the expectation of sharing in the latter's winnings.

Tout (n.) One who gives a tip on a race horses for an expected compensation, esp. in hopes of a share in any winnings; -- usually contemptuous.

Tout (n.) One who solicits custom, as a runner for a hotel, cab, gambling place.

Toxalbumin (n.) Any of a class of toxic substances of protein nature; a toxin.

Toxicity (n.) The quality or state of being toxic or poisonous; poisonousness.

Toxicogenic (a.) Producing toxic products; as, toxicogenic germs or bacteria.

Toxoid (n.) An altered form of a toxin, possessing little or no toxic power.

Trace (n.) A connecting bar or rod, pivoted at each end to the end of another piece, for transmitting motion, esp. from one plane to another; specif., such a piece in an organ-stop action to transmit motion from the trundle to the lever actuating the stop slider.

Tracer (n.) A person engaged (esp. in the express or railway service) in tracing, or searching out, missing articles, as packages or freight cars.

Tracer (n.) An inquiry sent out (esp. in transportation service) for a missing article, as a letter or an express package.

Tracery (n.) A tracing of lines; a system of lines produced by, or as if by, tracing, esp. when interweaving or branching out in ornamental or graceful figures.

Tracklayer (n.) Any workman engaged in work involved in putting the track in place.

Trackwalker (n.) A person employed to walk over and inspect a section of tracks.

Trackway (n.) Any of two or more narrow paths, of steel, smooth stone, or the like, laid in a public roadway otherwise formed of an inferior pavement, as cobblestones, to provide an easy way for wheels.

Traction wheel () A locomotive driving wheel which acts by friction adhesion to a smooth track.

Traction wheel () A smooth-rimmed friction wheel for giving motion to an endless link belt or the like.

propeller () A propeller screw placed in front of the supporting planes of an aeroplane instead of behind them, so that it exerts a pull instead of a push. Hence, Tractor monoplane, Tractor biplane, etc.

Trade name () The name by which an article is called among traders, etc.; as, tin spirits is a common trade name in the dyeing industry for various solutions of tin salts.

Trade name () An invented or arbitrary adopted name given by a manufacturer or merchant to an article to distinguish it as produced or sold by him.

Trade name () The name or style under which a concern or firm does business. This name becomes a part of the good will of a business; it is not protected by the registration acts, but a qualified common-law protection against its misuse exists, analogous to that existing in the case of trade-marks.

Traffic mile () Any unit of the total obtained by adding the passenger miles and ton miles in a railroad's transportation for a given period; -- a term and practice of restricted or erroneous usage.

Trailer (n.) A car coupled to, and drawn by, a motor car in front of it; -- used esp. of such cars on street railroads. Called also trail car.

Train (n.) A heavy long sleigh used in Canada for the transportation of merchandise, wood, and the like.

Train (n.) The aggregation of men, animals, and vehicles which accompany an army or one of its subdivisions, and transport its baggage, ammunition, supplies, and reserve materials of all kinds.

Train dispatcher () An official who gives the orders on a railroad as to the running of trains and their right of way.

Tram (v. i.) To operate, or conduct the business of, a tramway; to travel by tramway.

Trama (n.) The loosely woven substance which lines the chambers within the gleba in certain Gasteromycetes.

Trammel wheel () A circular plate or a cross, with two or more cross grooves intersecting at the center, used on the end of a shaft to transmit motion to another shaft not in line with the first.

Tramrail (n.) An overhead rail forming a track on which a trolley runs to convey a load, as in a shop.

Tramway (n.) A street railway or interurban railway for local traffic, on which cable cars, or trolley cars, etc., are used, in distinction from an extended railway line for trains drawn by steam or electric locomotives.

Transition zone () The zone lying between the Boreal and Sonoran zones of North America. It includes an eastern or humid subdivision and a western arid one of corresponding temperature comprising the northern Great Plains and the lower slopes of the mountains of the western United States and Mexico. Called also Neutral zone.

Transmission dynamometer () A dynamometer in which power is measured, without being absorbed or used up, during transmission.

Transmissionist (n.) An adherent of a theory, the transmission theory, that the brain serves to "transmit," rather than to originate, conclusions, and hence that consciousness may exist independently of the brain.

Trap shooting () Shooting at pigeons liberated, or glass balls or clay pigeons sprung into the air, from a trap.

Traverse drill () A machine tool for drilling slots, in which the work or tool has a lateral motion back and forth; also, a drilling machine in which the spindle holder can be adjusted laterally.

Travois (n.) A primitive vehicle, common among the North American Indians, usually two trailing poles serving as shafts and bearing a platform or net for a load.

Treasury stock () Issued stock of an incorporated company held by the company itself.

Trecentist (n.) A member of the trecento, or an imitator of its characteristics.

Trecento (n. & a.) The fourteenth century, when applied to Italian art, literature, etc. It marks the period of Dante, Petrarch, and boccaccio in literature, and of Giotto in painting.

Tree burial () Disposal of the dead by placing the corpse among the branches of a tree or in a hollow trunk, a practice among many primitive peoples.

Tree calf () A bright brown polished calfskin binding of books, stained with a conventional treelike design.

Tref (a.) Ceremonially unclean, according to the Jewish law; -- opposed to kosher.

Trek (n.) To travel, esp. by ox wagon; to go from place to place; to migrate.

Trek (n.) The act of trekking; a drawing or a traveling; a journey; a migration.

Trembler (n.) Any of certain West Indian birds of the genera Cinclocerthia and Rhamphocinclus, of the family Mimidae.

Trembler (n.) The vibrating hammer, or spring contact piece of a hammer break, as of the electric ignition apparatus for an internal-combustion engine.

Tremie (n.) An apparatus for depositing and consolidating concrete under water, essentially a tube of wood or sheet metal with a hooperlike top. It is usually handled by a crane.

Tres-tine (n.) The third tine above the base of a stag's antler; the royal antler.

Trial balance () The testing of a ledger to discover whether the debits and credits balance, by finding whether the sum of the personal credits increased by the difference between the debit and credit sums in the merchandise and other impersonal accounts equals the sum of personal debits. The equality would not show that the items were all correctly posted.

Tribromphenol (n.) A colorless crystalline substance prepared by the reaction of carbolic acid with bromine.

Tribunal (n.) In villages of the Philippine Islands, a kind of townhall. At the tribunal the head men of the village met to transact business, prisoners were confined, and troops and travelers were often quartered.

Trickle (n.) The act or state of trickling; also, that which trickles; a small stream; drip.

Triger process () A method of sinking through water-bearing ground, in which the shaft is lined with tubbing and provided with an air lock, work being proceeded with under air pressure.

Trigon (n.) The cutting region of the crown of an upper molar, usually the anterior part. That of a lower molar is the Tri"go*nid (/).

Trihybrid (n.) A hybrid whose parents differ by three pairs of contrasting Mendelian characters.

Trimmer (n.) An apparatus used for piling the coal in gradually increasing piles made by building up at the point of the cone or top of the prism.

Trinomial (a.) Consisting of, or involving the use of, three terms; as, a trinomial systematic name specifying the genus, species, and variety.

Trional (n.) A compound similar to sulphonal, used as a hypnotic in medicine.

Tripitaka (n.) The three divisions, or "baskets" (pitakas), of buddhist scriptures, -- the Vinayapitaka [Skr. Vinayapi/aka] , or Basket of Discipline; Suttapitaka [Pali] , or Basket of Discourses; and Abhidhammapitaka [Pali] , or Basket of Metaphysics.

Triplex (a.) Havingthree principal operative parts or motions, so as to produce a three-fold effect.

-rid () A complex sugar, as raffinose, yielding by hydrolysis three simple sugar molecules.

Triskele (n.) A figure composed of three branches, usually curved, radiating from a center, as the figure composed of three human legs, with bent knees, which has long been used as a badge or symbol of Sicily and of the Isle of Man.

Tritubercular (a.) Having or designating teeth with three cusps or tubercles; tricuspid.

Trituberculy (n.) A theory of the development of mammalian molar teeth. The primitive stage is that of simple cones, as in reptiles. The simple cone then developed a smaller cone in front and another behind. Next, a cingulum was developed, and the three cones became arranged in a triangle, the two smaller cusps having moved to the outer side in upper and to the inner in lower molars. This primitive triangle is called the trigon or trigonid and this stage the tritubercular or trigonodont. The trigon being a cutting apparatus, an extension of the posterior part of the crown was developed in lower molars for crushing, and a smaller corresponding part appeared in upper molars. Another large cone then arose, usually from the cingulum. In more complex forms, smaller intermediate cusps appeared.

Trocha (n.) A line of fortifications, usually rough, constructed to prevent the passage of an enemy across a region.

Troilus butterfly () A large American butterfly (Papilio troilus). It is black, with yellow marginal spots on the front wings, and blue on the rear.

Trois point () The third point from the outer edge on each player's home table.

Trojan (n.) One who shows the pluck, endurance, determined energy, or the like, attributed to the defenders of Troy; -- used chiefly or only in the phrase like a Trojan; as, he endured the pain like a Trojan; he studies like a Trojan.

Trolley car () A motor car to which the current is conveyed by means of a trolley.

Trolley wire () A heavy conducting wire on which the trolley car runs and from which it receives the current.

Troppo (adv.) Too much; as, allegro ma non troppo, brisk but not too much so.

Trough (n.) The transverse section of a cyclonic area where the barometric pressure, neither rising nor falling, has reached its lowest point.

Trudgen stroke () A racing stroke in which a double over-arm motion is used; -- so called from its use by an amateur named Trudgen, but often erroneously written trudgeon.

True (a.) Genuine; real; not deviating from the essential characters of a class; as, a lizard is a true reptile; a whale is a true, but not a typical, mammal.

Truite (a.) Having a delicately crackled surface; -- applied to porcelian, etc.

Trunk engine () An engine having a trunk piston, as most internal combustion engines.

Trunk piston () In a single-acting engine, an elongated hollow piston, open at the end, in which the end of the connecting rod is pivoted. The piston rod, crosshead and stuffing box are thus dispensed with.

Trunk steamer () A freight steamer having a high hatch coaming extending almost continuously fore and aft, but not of whaleback form at the sides.

Trust (n.) An equitable right or interest in property distinct from the legal ownership thereof; a use (as it existed before the Statute of Uses); also, a property interest held by one person for the benefit of another. Trusts are active, or special, express, implied, constructive, etc. In a passive trust the trustee simply has title to the trust property, while its control and management are in the beneficiary.

Trust (n.) A business organization or combination consisting of a number of firms or corporations operating, and often united, under an agreement creating a trust (in sense 1), esp. one formed mainly for the purpose of regulating the supply and price of commodities, etc.; often, opprobriously, a combination formed for the purpose of controlling or monopolizing a trade, industry, or business, by doing acts in restraint or trade; as, a sugar trust. A trust may take the form of a corporation or of a body of persons or corporations acting together by mutual arrangement, as under a contract or a so-called gentlemen's agreement. When it consists of corporations it may be effected by putting a majority of their stock either in the hands of a board of trustees (whence the name trust for the combination) or by transferring a majority to a holding company. The advantages of a trust are partly due to the economies made possible in carrying on a large business, as well as the doing away with competition. In the United States severe statutes against trusts have been passed by the Federal government and in many States, with elaborate statutory definitions.

Trust company () Any corporation formed for the purpose of acting as trustee. Such companies usually do more or less of a banking business.

Trustee stock () High-grade stock in which trust funds may be legally invested.

Try (n.) In Rugby and Northern Union football, a score (counting three points) made by grounding the ball on or behind the opponent's goal line; -- so called because it entitles the side making it to a place kick for a goal (counting two points more if successful).

Try cock () A cock for withdrawing a small quantity of liquid, as for testing.

Tryout (n.) A test by which the fitness of a player or contestant to remain in a certain class is determined.

Tsung-li Yamen () The board or department of foreign affairs in the Chinese government. See Yamen.

Tsung tu () A viceroy or governor-general, the highest provincial official in China, with civil and military authority over one or more provinces.

Tuatara (n.) A large iguanalike reptile (Sphenodon punctatum) formerly common in New Zealand, but now confined to certain islets near the coast. It reaches a length of two and a half feet, is dark olive-green with small white or yellowish specks on the sides, and has yellow spines along the back, except on the neck.

Tuberculin test () The hypodermic injection of tuberculin, which has little or no effect with healthy cattle, but causes a marked rise in temperature in tuberculous animals.

Tuberculocidin (n.) A special substance contained in tuberculin, supposed to be the active agent of the latter freed from various impurities.

Tuck pointing () The finishing of joints along the center lines with a narrow ridge of putty or fine lime mortar.

Tumescence (n.) The act of becoming tumid; the state of being swollen; intumescence.

Tundra (n.) One of the level or undulating treeless plains characteristic of northern arctic regions in both hemispheres. The tundras mark the limit of arborescent vegetation; they consist of black mucky soil with a permanently frozen subsoil, but support a dense growth of mosses and lichens, and dwarf herbs and shrubs, often showy-flowered.

Tungsten lamp () An electric glow lamp having filaments of metallic tungsten. Such lamps, owing to the refractory nature of the metal, may be maintained at a very high temperature and require an expenditure of only about 1.25 watts per candle power.

Tungsten steel () A steel containing a small amount of tungsten, noted for tenacity and hardness, even under a considerable degree of heat. Magnets made of it are said to be highly permanent. It often contains manganese.

Tunnel stern () A design of motor-boat stern, for use in shallow waters, in which the propeller is housed in a tunnel and does not extend below the greatest draft.

Tupi (n.) An Indian of the tribe from which the Tupian stock takes its name, dwelling, at the advent of the Portuguese, about the mouth of the Amazon. Also, their language, which is the basis of the Indian trade language of the Amazon.

Tupian (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a linguistic stock of South American Indians comprising the most important Brazilian tribes. Agriculture, pottery, and stone working were practiced by them at the time of the conquest. The Tupi and the Guarani were originally the most powerful of the stock, which is hence also called Tupi-Guaranian.

Tuque (n.) A kind of warm cap winter wear, made from a knit bag with closed tapered ends by pushing one end within the other, thus making a conical cap of double thickness.

Turbine (n.) A form of steam engine analogous in construction and action to the water turbine. There are practically only two distinct kinds, and they are typified in the de Laval and the Parsons and Curtis turbines. The de Laval turbine is an impulse turbine, in which steam impinges upon revolving blades from a flared nozzle. The flare of the nozzle causes expansion of the steam, and hence changes its pressure energy into kinetic energy. An enormous velocity (30,000 revolutions per minute in the 5 H. P. size) is requisite for high efficiency, and the machine has therefore to be geared down to be of practical use. Some recent development of this type include turbines formed of several de Laval elements compounded as in the ordinary expansion engine. The Parsons turbine is an impulse-and-reaction turbine, usually of the axial type. The steam is constrained to pass successively through alternate rows of fixed and moving blades, being expanded down to a condenser pressure of about 1 lb. per square inch absolute. The Curtis turbine is somewhat simpler than the Parsons, and consists of elements each of which has at least two rows of moving blades and one row of stationary. The bucket velocity is lowered by fractional velocity reduction. Both the Parsons and Curtis turbines are suitable for driving dynamos and steamships directly. In efficiency, lightness, and bulk for a given power, they compare favorably with reciprocating engines.

Turbogenerator (n.) An electric generator or dynamo which is combined on one frame with a turbomotor, by which it is driven.

Turkey-trot (n.) An eccentric ragtime dance, danced with the feet well apart and with a characteristic rise on the ball of the foot, followed by a drop upon the heel. The original form, owning to the positions assumed by the dancers, is offensively suggestive. Similar dances are the bunny hug and grizzly bear, so called in allusion to the movements and the positions assumed by the partners in dancing.

Turkism (n.) A Turkish idiom or expression; also, in general, a Turkish mode or custom.

Turko-Iranian (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a mixed racial type including the Afghans, and characterized chiefly by stature above mean, fair complexion, dark, or sometimes gray, eyes, brachycephaly, and very long, prominent, and moderately narrow nose.

Turk's-head (n.) A knot of turbanlike form worked on a rope with a piece of small line.

Turk's-head (n.) A long-handled, round-headed broom for sweeping ceilings, etc.

Turn (v. t.) To make a turn about or around (something); to go or pass around by turning; as, to turn a corner.

Turndown (a.) designating, or pertaining to, an incandescent lamp with a small additional filament which can be made incandescent when only a small amount of light is required.

Turndown (a.) Made to wear with the upper part turned down; as, a turndown collar.

Turpentine State () North Carolina; -- a nickname alluding to its extensive production of turpentine.

Turret deck () A narrow superstructure running from stem to stern on the upper deck of a steam cargo vessel having a rounded gunwale and sides curved inward convexly.

Turret steamer () A whaleback steamer with a hatch coaming, usually about seven feet high, extending almost continuously fore and aft.

Turtleback (n.) A rude stone celt of a form suggesting the back of a turtle.

Turtleback (n.) A convex deck at the bow or stern of a vessel, so made to shed the seas quickly.

Turtle peg () A sharp steel spear attached to a cord, used in taking sea turtles.

Tousche () A lithographic drawing or painting material of the same nature as lithographic ink. It is also used as a resistant in the biting-in process.

Tusseh (n.) An undomesticated East Indian silkworn (Antheraea mylitta), that feeds on the leaves of the oak and other plants.

Tuum (n.) Lit., thine; that which is thine; -- used in meum and tuum. See 2d Meum.

Tuxedo (n.) A kind of black coat for evening dress made without skirts; -- so named after a fashionable country club at Tuxedo Park, New York.

Twaddell's hydrometer () A form of hydrometer for liquids heavier than water, graduated with an arbitrary scale such that the readings when multiplied by .005 and added to unity give the specific gravity.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee () Two things practically alike; -- a phrase coined by John Byrom (1692-1793) in his satire "On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini."

Twist (n.) Act of imparting a turning or twisting motion, as to a pitched ball; also, the motion thus imparted; as, the twist of a billiard ball.

Twist (n.) A strong individual tendency, or bent; a marked inclination; a bias; -- often implying a peculiar or unusual tendency; as, a twist toward fanaticism.

Two-name (a.) Having or bearing two names; as, two-name paper, that is, negotiable paper on which at least two persons are severally liable as separate makers, or, usually, one as maker and one as indorser.

Two-port (a.) Having two ports; specif.: Designating a type of two-cycle internal-combustion engine in which the admission of the mixture to the crank case is through a suction valve.

Two-speed (a.) Adapted for producing or for receiving either of two speeds; -- said of a power-transmitting device.

Two-step (n.) A kind of round dance in march or polka time; also, a piece of music for this dance.

Two-throw (a.) Capable of being thrown or cranked in two directions, usually opposite to one another; as, a two-throw crank; a two-throw switch.

Two-throw (a.) Having two crank set near together and opposite to one another; as, a two-throw crank shaft.

Two-to-one (a.) Designating, or pert. to, a gear for reducing or increasing a velocity ratio two to one.

Two-way (a.) Serving to connect at will one pipe or channel with either of two others; as, a two-way cock.

Tychism (n.) Any theory which conceives chance as an objective reality; esp., a theory of evolution which considers that variation may be purely fortuitous.

Typify (v. t.) To embody the essential or salient characteristics of; to be the type of; as, the genus Rosa typifies the family Rosaceae, which in turn typifies the series Rosales.

Typograph (n.) A machine for setting type or for casting lines of type and setting them.

Typolithography (n.) A branch of lithography in which impressions from printers' types are transferred to stone for reproduction.

Udalman () Vars. of Odal, etc. Obs. exc. in Shetland and the Orkney Islands, where udal designates land held in fee simple without any charter and free of any feudal character.

Ulema (n.) A college or body composed of the hierarchy (the imams, muftis, and cadis). That of Turkey alone now has political power; its head is the sheik ul Islam.

Ultragaseous (a.) Having the properties exhibited by gases under very low pressures (one millionth of an atmosphere or less). Matter under this condition, which has been termed the fourth state of matter, is sometimes called radiant matter.

Unassented (a.) Not assented; -- said specif. of stocks or bonds the holders of which refuse to deposit them by way of assent to an agreement altering their status, as in a readjustment.

Uncle (n.) An eldery man; -- used chiefly as a kindly or familiar appellation, esp. (Southern U. S.) for a worthy old negro; as, "Uncle Remus."

Uncut velvet () A fabric woven like velvet, but with the loops of the warp threads uncut.

Underload switch () A switch which opens a circuit when the current falls below a certain predetermined value, used to protect certain types of motors from running at excessive speed upon decrease of load.

Underhung (a.) Of an automobile body, suspended from the springs in such a manner that the frame of the chassis is below the axles, the object being to lower the center of gravity of the car.

Unemployment (n.) Quality or state of being not employed; -- used esp. in economics, of the condition of various social classes when temporarily thrown out of employment, as those engaged for short periods, those whose trade is decaying, and those least competent.

University extension () The extension of the advantages of university instruction by means of lectures and classes at various centers.

Unlisted (a.) admitted to quotation in the unlisted department, that is, admitted to be dealt in on the floor, but not to the "regular list."

Up-over (a.) Designating a method of shaft excavation by drifting to a point below, and then raising instead of sinking.

Upright (a.) Designating a club in which the head is approximately at a right angle with the shaft.

Upright (n.) A tool made from a flat strip of steel with chisel edges at both ends, bent into horseshoe, the opening between the cutting edges being adjustable, used for reducing splits to skeins. Called in full upright shave.

Upset (v. t.) To turn upwards the outer ends of (stakes) so as to make a foundation for the side of a basket or the like; also, to form (the side) in this manner.

Upsetting thermometer () A thermometer by merely inverting which the temperature may be registered. The column of mercury is broken and, as it remains until the instrument is reset, the reading may be made at leisure.

Upsilon (n.) The 20th letter (/, /) of the Greek alphabet, a vowel having originally the sound of / as in room, becoming before the 4th century b. c. that French u or Ger. u. Its equivalent in English is u or y.

Up-to-date (a.) Extending to the present time; having style, manners, knowledge, or other qualities that are abreast of the times.

Uraeus (n.) A serpent, or serpent's head and neck, represented on the front of the headdresses of divinities and sovereigns as an emblem of supreme power.

Urethane (n.) A white crystalline substance, NH2.COOC2H5, produced by the action of ammonia on ethyl carbonate or by heating urea nitrate and ethyl alcohol. It is used as a hypnotic, antipyretic, and antispasmodic. Hence, any ester of carbamic acid.

Vacatur (n.) An order of court by which a proceeding is set aside or annulled.

Vachette clasp () A piece of strong steel wire with the ends curved and pointed, used on toe or quarter cracks to bind the edges together and prevent motion. It is clasped into two notches, one on each side of the crack, burned into the wall with a cautery iron.

Vacuum cleaner () A machine for cleaning carpets, tapestry, upholstered work, etc., by suction.

Valorization (n.) Act or process of attempting to give an arbitrary market value or price to a commodity by governmental interference, as by maintaining a purchasing fund, making loans to producers to enable them to hold their products, etc.; -- used chiefly of such action by Brazil.

Value (n.) That property of a color by which it is distinguished as bright or dark; luminosity.

Value (n.) Degree of lightness as conditioned by the presence of white or pale color, or their opposites.

Value (n.) Any particular quantitative determination; as, a function's value for some special value of its argument.

Value (n.) The valuable ingredients to be obtained by treatment from any mass or compound; specif., the precious metals contained in rock, gravel, or the like; as, the vein carries good values; the values on the hanging walls.

Valued policy () A policy in which the value of the goods, property, or interest insured is specified; -- opposed to open policy.

Valued-policy law () A law requiring insurance companies to pay to the insured, in case of total loss, the full amount of the insurance, regardless of the actual value of the property at the time of the loss.

Vandyke beard () A trim, pointed beard, such as those often seen in pictures by Vandyke.

Vanity box () A small box, usually jeweled or of precious metal and worn on a chain, containing a mirror, powder puff, and other small toilet articles for a woman.

Van't Hoff's law () The generalization that: when a system is in equilibrium, of the two opposed interactions the endothermic is promoted by raising the temperature, the exothermic by lowering it.

Vapor galvanizing () A process for coating metal (usually iron or steel) surfaces with zinc by exposing them to the vapor of zinc instead of, as in ordinary galvanizing, to molten zinc; -- called also Sherardizing. Vapor galvanizing is accomplished by heating the articles to be galvanized together with zinc dust in an air tight receptacle to a temperature of about 600¡ F., which is 188¡ below the melting point of zinc, or by exposing the articles to vapor from molten zinc in a separate receptacle, using hydrogen or other reducing gas to prevent oxidation.

tension () The pressure or tension of a confined body of vapor. The pressure of a given saturated vapor is a function of the temperature only, and may be measured by introducing a small quantity of the substance into a barometer and noting the depression of the column of mercury.

Vargueno (n.) A decorative cabinet, of a form originating in Spain, the body being rectangular and supported on legs or an ornamental framework and the front opening downwards on hinges to serve as a writing desk.

Variety (n.) Such entertainment as in given in variety shows; the production of, or performance in, variety shows.

Variety show () A stage entertainment of successive separate performances, usually songs, dances, acrobatic feats, dramatic sketches, exhibitions of trained animals, or any specialties. Often loosely called vaudeville show.

Variometer (n.) An instrument for comparing magnetic forces, esp. in the earth's magnetic field.

Varisse (n.) An imperfection on the inside of the hind leg in horses, different from a curb, but at the same height, and often growing to an unsightly size.

Varsovienne (n.) Music for such a dance or having its slow triple time characteristic strong accent beginning every second measure.

Vase clock () A clock whose decorative case has the general form of a vase, esp. one in which there is no ordinary dial, but in which a part of a vase revolves while a single stationary indicator serves as a hand.

Vatican Council () The council held under Pope Pius IX. in Vatican at Rome, in 1870, which promulgated the dogma of papal infallibility.

Vaudeville (n.) Loosely, and now commonly, variety (see above), as, to play in vaudeville; a vaudeville actor.

Vega (n.) An open tract of ground; a plain, esp. one which is moist and fertile, as those used for tobacco fields.

Vehicle (n.) A liquid used to spread sensitive salts upon glass and paper for use in photography.

Veinstone (n.) Valueless material surrounding the ore in a lode; gangue; matrix.

Veldt sore () An infective sore mostly on the hands and feet, often contracted in walking on the veldt and apparently due to a specific microorganism.

Sauce veloute () A white sauce or stock made by boiling down ham, veal, beef, fowl, bouillon, etc., then adding soup stock, seasoning, vegetables, and thickening, and again boiling and straining.

Vendor's lien () An implied lien (that is, one not created by mortgage or other express agreement) given in equity to a vendor of lands for the unpaid purchase money.

Venin (n.) A toxic substance contained in the venom of poisonous snakes; also, a (supposedly identical) toxic substance obtained by the cleavage of an albumose.

Verbigerate (v. i.) To repeat a word or sentence, in speaking or writing, without wishing to do so or in spite of efforts to cease.

Verein (n.) A union, association, or society; -- used in names of German organizations.

Verner's law () A statement, propounded by the Danish philologist Karl Verner in 1875, which explains certain apparent exceptions to Grimm's law by the original position of the accent. Primitive Indo-European k, t, p, became first in Teutonic h, th, f, and appear without further change in old Teutonic, if the accent rested on the preceding syllable; but these sounds became voiced and produced g, d, b, if the accent was originally on a different syllable. Similarly s either remained unchanged, or it became z and later r. Example: Skt. sapta (accent on ultima), Gr. 'e`pta, Gothic sibun (seven). Examples in English are dead by the side of death, to rise and to rear.

Verrugas (n.) An endemic disease occurring in the Andes in Peru, characterized by warty tumors which ulcerate and bleed. It is probably due to a special bacillus, and is often fatal.

night signals () A system of signaling in which balls of red and green fire are fired from a pistol, the arrangement in groups denoting numbers having a code significance.

Vested school () In Ireland, a national school which has been built by the aid of grants from the board of Commissioners of National Education and is secured for educational purposes by leases to the commissioners themselves, or to the commissioners and the trustees.

Vestige (n.) A small, degenerate, or imperfectly developed part or organ which has been more fully developed in some past generation.

Vibrator (n.) One that vibrates, or causes vibration or oscillation of any kind;

Vibrator (n.) A vibrating reed for transmitting or receiving pulsating currents in a harmonic telegraph system.

Vibrator (n.) A device for vibrating the pen of a siphon recorder to diminish frictional resistance on the paper.

Vibrator (n.) An ink-distributing roller in a printing machine, having an additional vibratory motion.

Vibrator (n.) Any of various vibrating devices, as one for slackening the warp as a shed opens.

Vibrator (n.) An attachment, usually pneumatic, in a molding machine to shake the pattern loose.

Vickers' gun () One of a system of guns manufactured by the firm of Vickers' Sons, at Sheffield, Eng. now included in Vickers-Maxim guns.

Vickers-Maxim automatic machine gun () An automatic machine gun in which the mechanism is worked by the recoil, assisted by the pressure of gases from the muzzle, which expand in a gas chamber against a disk attached to the end of the barrel, thus moving the latter to the rear with increased recoil, and against the front wall of the gas chamber, checking the recoil of the system.

Vickers-Maxim gun () One of a system of ordnance, including machine, quick-fire, coast, and field guns, of all calibers, manufactured by the combined firms of Vickers' Sons of Sheffield and Maxim of Birmingham and elsewhere, England.

Victoria (n.) One of an American breed of medium-sized white hogs with a slightly dished face and very erect ears.

Victorium (n.) A probable chemical element discovered by Sir William Crookes in 1898. Its nitrate is obtained byy practical decomposition and crystallization of yttrium nitrate. At. wt., about 117.

Vierkleur (n.) The four-colored flag of the South African Republic, or Transvaal, -- red, white, blue, and green.

Vignette (n.) A picture, illustration, or depiction in words, esp. one of a small or dainty kind.

Vignetter (n.) A device used by photographers in printing vignettes, consisting of a screen of paper or glass with a central aperture the edges of which become opaque by intensible gradations.

Vinegar fly () Any of several fruit flies, esp. Drosophila ampelopophila, which breed in imperfectly sealed preserves and in pickles.

Vinegarroon (n.) A whip scorpion, esp. a large Mexican species (Thelyphonus giganteus) popularly supposed to be very venomous; -- from the odor that it emits when alarmed.

Vinification (n.) The conversion of a fruit juice or other saccharine solution into alcohol by fermentation.

Vinum (n.) Wine, -- chiefly used in Pharmacy in the name of solutions of some medicinal substance in wine; as: vina medicata, medicated wines; vinum opii, wine of opium.

Violet-ear (n.) Any tropical humming bird of the genus Petasophora, having violet or purplish ear tufts.

Visayan (n.) A member of the most numerous of the native races of the Philippines, occupying the Visayan Islands and the northern coast Mindanao; also, their language. The Visayans possessed a native culture and alphabet.

Visible speech () A system of characters invented by Prof. Alexander Melville Bell to represent all sounds that may be uttered by the speech organs, and intended to be suggestive of the position of the organs of speech in uttering them.

Vis major () A superior force which under certain circumstances is held to exempt from contract obligations; inevitable accident; -- a civil-law term used as nearly equivalent to, but broader than, the common-law term act of God (which see).

Visualize (v. i.) To form a mental image of something not present before the eye at the time.

Vitrage (n.) A curtain of light and translucent material intended to be secured directly to the woodwork of a French casement window or a glazed door.

Vitrics (n.) The art or study of the manufacture and decoration of glassware.

Vitriolize (v. t.) To injure (a person) with vitriol, or sulphuric acid, as by throwing it upon the face.

Vitro-di-trina (n.) A kind of Venetian glass or glassware in which white threads are embedded in transparent glass with a lacelike or netlike effect.

Viva (interj.) Lit., (long) live; -- an exclamation expressing good will, well wishing, etc.

Volante (n.) A two-wheeled carriage formerly much used in Cuba. The body is in front of the axle; the driver rides on the horse.

Volcanic neck () A column of igneous rock formed by congelation of lava in the conduit of a volcano and later exposed by the removal of surrounding rocks.

Volcanic wind () A wind associated with a volcanic outburst and due to the eruption or to convection currents over hot lava.

Volksraad (n.) A legislative assembly or parliament of any one of several countries colonized by the Dutch, esp. that of the South African Republic, or the Transvaal, and that of the Orange Free State.

Volley ball () A game played by volleying a large inflated ball with the hands over a net 7 ft. 6 in. high.

Volost (n.) In the greater part of Russia, a division for local government consisting of a group of mirs, or village communities; a canton.

Volt ampere () A unit of electric measurement equal to the product of a volt and an ampere. For direct current it is a measure of power and is the same as a watt; for alternating current it is a measure of apparent power.

Volumescope (n.) An instrument consisting essentially of a glass tube provided with a graduated scale, for exhibiting to the eye the changes of volume of a gas or gaseous mixture resulting from chemical action, etc.

Voluntarism (n.) Any theory which conceives will to be the dominant factor in experience or in the constitution of the world; -- contrasted with intellectualism. Schopenhauer and Fichte are typical exponents of the two types of metaphysical voluntarism, Schopenhauer teaching that the evolution of the universe is the activity of a blind and irrational will, Fichte holding that the intelligent activity of the ego is the fundamental fact of reality.

Volunteer navy () A navy of vessels fitted out and manned by volunteers who sail under the flag of the regular navy and subject to naval discipline. Prussia in 1870, in the Franco-German war, organized such a navy, which was commanded by merchant seamen with temporary commissions, with the claim (in which England acquiesced) that it did not come within the meaning of the term privateer.

Volunteers of America () A religious and philanthropic organization, similar to the Salvation Army, founded (1896) by Commander and Mrs. Ballington Booth.

Vortex fringe () The region immediately surrounding a disk moving flatwise through air; -- so called because the air has a cyclic motion as in vortex ring.

Vortex line () A line, within a rotating fluid, whose tangent at every point is the instantaneous axis of rotation as that point of the fluid.

Vortex ring () A ring-shaped mass of moving fluid which, by virtue of its motion of rotation around an axis disposed in circular form, attains a more or less distinct separation from the surrounding medium and has many of the properties of a solid.

Vortex theory () The theory, advanced by Thomson (Lord Kelvin) on the basis of investigation by Helmholtz, that the atoms are vortically moving ring-shaped masses (or masses of other forms having a similar internal motion) of a homogeneous, incompressible, frictionless fluid. Various properties of such atoms (vortex atoms) can be mathematically deduced.

Vortex tube () An imaginary tube within a rotating fluid, formed by drawing the vortex lines through all points of a closed curve.

Vox angelica () An organ stop of delicate stringlike quality, having for each finger key a pair of pipes, of which one is tuned slightly sharp to give a wavy effect to their joint tone.

Vulcan powder () A dynamite composed of nitroglycerin (30 parts), sodium nitrate (52.5), charcoal (10.5), and sulphur (7), used in mining and blasting.

Waddywood (n.) An Australian tree (Pittosporum bicolor); also, its wood, used in making waddies.

Wages (n. pl.) The share of the annual product or national dividend which goes as a reward to labor, as distinct from the remuneration received by capital in its various forms. This economic or technical sense of the word wages is broader than the current sense, and includes not only amounts actually paid to laborers, but the remuneration obtained by those who sell the products of their own work, and the wages of superintendence or management, which are earned by skill in directing the work of others.

Waggle (n.) the preliminary swinging of the club head back and forth over the ball in the line of the proposed stroke.

Wagnerian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling the style of, Richard Wagner, the German musical composer.

Wahoo (n.) A certain shrub (Evonymus atropurpureus) having purple capsules which in dehiscence expose the scarlet-ariled seeds; -- called also burning bush.

Wahoo (n.) A dark blue scombroid food fish (Acanthocibium solandri / petus) of Florida and the West Indies.

Wait-a-bit (n.) Any of several plants bearing thorns or stiff hooked appendages, which catch and tear the clothing,

Wait-a-while (n.) One of the Australian wattle trees (Acacia colletioides), so called from the impenetrability of the thicket which it makes.

Wakf (n.) The granting or dedication of property in trust for a pious purpose, that is, to some object that tends to the good of mankind, as to support a mosque or caravansary, to provide for support of one's family, kin, or neighbors, to benefit some particular person or persons and afterward the poor, etc.; also, the trust so created, or the property in trust.

Waler (n.) A horse imported from New South Wales; also, any Australian horse.

Walk (n.) In coffee, coconut, and other plantations, the space between them.

Walk (n.) An inclosed area of some extent to which a gamecock is confined to prepare him for fighting.

Walk (v. t.) To put or keep (a puppy) in a walk; to train (puppies) in a walk.

Wallachian (a.) Of or pertaining to Wallachia, a former principality, now part of the kingdom, of Roumania.

Wallachian (n.) An inhabitant of Wallachia; also, the language of the Wallachians; Roumanian.

Wallflower (n.) In Australia, the desert poison bush (Gastrolobium grandiflorum); -- called also native wallflower.

Wallow (n.) A place to which an animal comes to wallow; also, the depression in the ground made by its wallowing; as, a buffalo wallow.

Wall Street () A street towards the southern end of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, extending from Broadway to the East River; -- so called from the old wall which extended along it when the city belonged to the Dutch. It is the chief financial center of the United States, hence the name is often used for the money market and the financial interests of the country.

Wane (n.) The natural curvature of a log or of the edge of a board sawed from a log.

Warp (v. t.) To twist the end surfaces of (an aerocurve in an aeroplane) in order to restore or maintain equilibrium.

Warp knitting () A kind of knitting in which a number of threads are interchained each with one or more contiguous threads on either side.

Warty-back (n.) An American fresh-water mussel (Quadrula pustulosa). Its shell is used in making buttons.

Wash (v. t.) To cause dephosphorisation of (molten pig iron) by adding substances containing iron oxide, and sometimes manganese oxide.

Wash (v. t.) To pass (a gas or gaseous mixture) through or over a liquid for the purpose of purifying it, esp. by removing soluble constituents.

Wash (v. i.) To move with a lapping or swashing sound, or the like; to lap; splash; as, to hear the water washing.

Wash (n.) Gravel and other rock debris transported and deposited by running water; coarse alluvium.

Wash (n.) The dry bed of an intermittent stream, sometimes at the bottom of a ca–on; as, the Amargosa wash, Diamond wash; -- called also dry wash.

Wash (n.) The upper surface of a member or material when given a slope to shed water. Hence, a structure or receptacle shaped so as to receive and carry off water, as a carriage wash in a stable.

Wash drawing () In water-color painting, work in, or a work done chiefly in, washes, as distinguished from that done in stipple, in body color, etc.

Washing (n.) Gold dust procured by washing; also, a place where this is done; a washery.

Washing (n.) The operation of simultaneously buying and selling the same stock for the purpose of manipulating the market. The transaction is fictitious, and is prohibited by stock-exchange rules.

Washing (n.) The covering of a piece with an infusible powder, which prevents it from sticking to its supports, while receiving the glaze.

Washoe process () The process of treating silver ores by grinding in pans or tubs with the addition of mercury, and sometimes of chemicals such as blue vitriol and salt.

Wash stand () In a stable or garage, a place in the floor prepared so that carriages or automobiles may be washed there and the water run off.

Waste (n.) Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Watercourse (n.) One of the holes in floor or other plates to permit water to flow through.

Water glass () An instrument consisting of an open box or tube with a glass bottom, used for examining objects in the water, as upon the sea bottom in shallow places.

Water grass () A tall march perennial grass (Paspalum dilatatum) of the southern United States and the American tropics.

Water hammer () A metal hammer used when heated, as by dipping in hot water, to blister the skin, as for counterritation.

Watermanship (n.) Art of, or skill in, rowing; oarsmanship; specif., skill in managing the blade in the water, as distinguished from managing arms, body, etc., in the stroke.

Water monkey () A jar or bottle, as of porous earthenware, in which water is cooled by evaporation.

Water parting () A summit from the opposite sides of which rain waters flow to different streams; a line separating the drainage districts of two streams or coasts; a divide.

Water pocket () A water hole in the bed of an intermittent stream, esp. the bowl at the foot of a cliff over which the stream leaps when in the flood stage.

Water table () The upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water. The water table may be within a few inches of the surface or many feet below it.

Water telescope () A telescope in which the medium between the objective and the eye piece is water instead of air, used in some experiments in aberration.

Water tender () In the United States navy, a first-class petty officer in charge in a fireroom. He "tends" water to the boilers, sees that fires are properly cleaned and stoked, etc. There is also a rating of chief water tender, who is a chief petty officer.

Water tower () A tower or standpipe used as a reservoir to deliver water at a required head, as to a fountain.

Water tube () Any tube for passing or holding water; specif., in some steam boilers, a tube in which water circulates and steam is generated.

Watteau (a.) Having the appearance of that which is seen in pictures by Antoine Watteau, a French painter of the eighteenth century; -- said esp. of women's garments; as, a Watteau bodice.

Watteau back () The back of a woman's gown in which one or more very broad folds are carried from the neck to the floor without being held in at the waist, while the front and sides of the gown are shaped to the person and have a belt or its equivalent.

Wattle (n.) Material consisting of wattled twigs, withes, etc., used for walls, fences, and the like.

Wattle (n.) In Australasia, any tree of the genus Acacia; -- so called from the wattles, or hurdles, which the early settlers made of the long, pliable branches or of the split stems of the slender species.

Wattless (a.) Without any power (cf. Watt); -- said of an alternating current or component of current when it differs in phase by ninety degrees from the electromotive force which produces it, or of an electromotive force or component thereof when the current it produces differs from it in phase by 90 degrees.

Wave (n.) Something resembling or likened to a water wave, as in rising unusually high, in being of unusual extent, or in progressive motion; a swelling or excitement, as of feeling or energy; a tide; flood; period of intensity, usual activity, or the like; as, a wave of enthusiasm.

Waxworks (n. pl.) An exhibition of wax figures, or the place of exhibition.

Weak (a.) Tending toward a lower price or lower prices; as, wheat is weak; a weak market.

Weak (a.) Lacking in good cards; deficient as to number or strength; as, a hand weak in trumps.

Wealth (n.) In the public sense, all objects, esp. material objects, which have economic utility.

Wealth (n.) Those energies, faculties, and habits directly contributing to make people industrially efficient.

Wear (n.) The result of wearing or use; consumption, diminution, or impairment due to use, friction, or the like; as, the wear of this coat has been good.

Weather map () A map or chart showing the principal meteorological elements at a given hour and over an extended region. Such maps usually show the height of the barometer, the temperature of the air, the relative humidity, the state of the weather, and the direction and velocity of the wind. Isobars and isotherms outline the general distribution of temperature and pressure, while shaded areas indicate the sections over which rain has just fallen. Other lines inclose areas where the temperature has fallen or risen markedly. In tabular form are shown changes of pressure and of temperature, maximum and minimum temperatures, and total rain for each weather station since the last issue, usually 12 hours.

Weather signal () Any signal giving information about the weather. The system used by the United States Weather Bureau includes temperature, cold or hot wave, rain or snow, wind direction, storm, and hurricane signals.

Weather station () A station for taking meteorological observations, making weather forecasts, or disseminating such information. Such stations are of the first order when they make observations of all the important elements either hourly or by self-registering instruments; of the second order when only important observations are taken; of the third order when simpler work is done, as to record rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures.

gage () A wedge with a graduated edge, to measure the width of a space into which it is thrust.

Wedge gear () A friction gear wheel with wedge-shaped circumferential grooves.

Weedless (a.) Free from weeds; -- said of a kind of motor-boat propeller the blades of which curve backwardly, as respects the direction of rotation, so that they draw through the water, and so do not gather weeds with which they come in contact.

Week-end (n.) The end of the week; specif., though loosely, the period observed commonly as a holiday, from Saturday noon or Friday night to Monday; as, to visit one for a week-end; also, a house party during a week-end.

Weeping tree () A tree from which honeydew or other liquid secretions of insects drip in considerable quantities, esp. one infested by the larvae of any species of the genus Ptylus, allied to the cuckoo spits, which in tropical countries secrete large quantities of a watery fluid.

Weetweet (n.) A throwing toy, or implement, of the Australian aborigines, consisting of a cigar-shaped stick fastened at one end to a flexible twig. It weighs in all about two ounces, and is about two feet long.

Weight (v. t.) To load (fabrics) as with barite, to increase the weight, etc.

Weil's disease () An acute infectious febrile disease, resembling typhoid fever, with muscular pains, disturbance of the digestive organs, jaundice, etc.

Weismannism (n.) The theories and teachings in regard to heredity propounded by the German biologist August Weismann, esp. in regard to germ plasm as the basis of heredity and the impossibility of transmitting acquired characteristics; -- often called neo-Darwinism.

Weiss beer () A light-colored highly effervescent beer made by the top-fermentation process.

Weld steel () A compound of iron, such as puddled steel, made without complete fusion.

Wellington boot () A riding boot for men, the front of which came above the knee; also, a similar shorter boot worn under the trousers.

Welsbach (a.) Of or pertaining to Auer von Welsbach or the incandescent gas burner invented by him.

Welsh (v. t. & i.) To cheat by avoiding payment of bets; -- said esp. of an absconding bookmaker at a race track.

Welsh (v. t. & i.) To avoid dishonorably the fulfillment of a pecuniary obligation.

Weltanschauung (n.) Lit., world view; a conception of the course of events in, and of the purpose of, the world as a whole, forming a philosophical view or apprehension of the universe; the general idea embodied in a cosmology.

Welterweight (n.) A weight of 28 pounds (one of 40 pounds is called a heavy welterweight) sometimes imposed in addition to weight for age, chiefly in steeplechases and hurdle races.

Welterweight (n.) A boxer or wrestler whose weight is intermediate between that of a lightweight and that of a middleweight.

Weltschmertz (v. i.) Sorrow or sadness over the present or future evils or woes of the world in general; sentimental pessimism.

Wen-li (n.) The higher literary idiom of Chinese, that of the canonical books and of all composition pretending to literary standing. It employs a classical or academic diction, and a more condensed and sententious style than Mandarin, and differs also in the doubling and arrangement of words.

West (a.) Designating, or situated in, that part of a church which is opposite to, and farthest from, the east, or the part containing the chancel and choir.

Wet-bulb thermometer () That one of the two similar thermometers of a psychrometer the bulb of which is moistened; also, the entire instrument.

Wet plate () A plate the film of which retains its sensitiveness only while wet. The film used in such plates is of collodion impregnated with bromides and iodides. Before exposure the plate is immersed in a solution of silver nitrate, and immediately after exposure it is developed and fixed.

Whack (v. t.) To divide into shares; as, to whack the spoils of a robbery; -- often with up.

Whaleback (n.) A form of vessel, often with steam power, having sharp ends and a very convex upper deck, much used on the Great Lakes, esp. for carrying grain.

Whang (v. t.) To beat; thrash; bang; also, to throw, hurl, or fling about, violently.

Wheat rust () A disease of wheat and other grasses caused by the rust fungus Puccinia graminis; also, the fungus itself.

Wheat sawfly () A small European sawfly (Cephus pygmaeus) whose larva does great injury to wheat by boring in the stalks.

Wheat sawfly () Any of several small American sawflies of the genus Dolerus, as D. sericeus and D. arvensis, whose larvae injure the stems or heads of wheat.

Wheat sawfly () Pachynematus extensicornis, whose larvae feed chiefly on the blades of wheat; -- called also grass sawfly.

Wheatstone's rods () Flexible rods the period of vibration of which in two planes at right angles are in some exact ratio to one another. When one end of such a rod is fixed, the free end describes in vibrating the corresponding Lissajous figure. So called because devised by Sir Charles Wheatstone.

Wheatworm (n.) A small nematode worm (Tylenchus tritici) which attacks wheat, advancing through the stem to the grains in the air.

Wheel base () The figure inclosed by lines through the points contact of the wheels of a vehicle, etc., with the surface or rails on which they run; more esp., the length of this figure between the points of contact of the two extreme wheels on either side.

Wheel of fortune () A gambling or lottery device consisting of a wheel which is spun horizontally, articles or sums to which certain marks on its circumference point when it stops being distributed according to varying rules.

Wheft (n.) A kind of streamer or flag used either as a signal, or at the masthead for ornament or to indicate the direction of the wind to aid in steering.

Whip (n.) A whipping motion; a thrashing about; as, the whip of a tense rope or wire which has suddenly parted; also, the quality of being whiplike or flexible; flexibility; suppleness, as of the shaft of a golf club.

Whip (n.) Any of various pieces that operate with a quick vibratory motion, as a spring in certain electrical devices for making a circuit, or a rocking certain piano actions.

Whipsaw (n.) A kind of narrow ripsaw, tapering from butt to point, with hook teeth and averaging from 5 to 7/ feet in length, used by one or two men.

Whipsaw (v. t.) To defeat in, or cause to lose, two different bets at the same turn or in one play, as a player at faro who has made two bets at the same time, one that a card will lose and another that a different card will win; hence, to defeat in spite of every effort.

Whipstitch (n.) A small bit; esp., a small interval of time; an instant; a minute.

Whipstitch (v. t.) To sew by passing the thread over and over; to overcast; whip.

Whiskey, Ring () A conspiracy of distillers and government officials during the administration of President Grant to defraud the government of the excise taxes. The frauds were detected in 1875 through the efforts of the Secretary of the Treasury. B. H. Bristow, and most of the offenders were convicted.

Whitecap (n.) A member of a self-appointed vigilance committee attempting by lynch-law methods to drive away or coerce persons obnoxious to it. Some early ones wore white hoods or masks.

White elephant () Something requiring much care and expense and yielding little profit; any burdensome possession.

White fly () Any one of numerous small injurious hemipterous insects of the genus Aleyrodes, allied to scale insects. They are usually covered with a white or gray powder.

White horse () A large mass of tough sinewy substance in the head of sperm whales, just above the upper jaw and extending in streaks into the junk above it. It resembles blubber, but contains no oil. Also, the part of the head in which it occurs.

White list () A list of business concerns regarded as worthy of patronage by reason of compliance with certain conditions, as in regard to treatment of employees; as, the white list of the Consumers' League.

White list () The official list of all transactions, published daily on white paper, divided into sales from 10 to 12, 12 to 2, and 2 to 3.

White mustard () A kind of mustard (Sinapis alba) with rough-hairy foliage, a long-beaked hispid pod, and pale seeds, which yield mustard and mustard oil. The plant is also grown for forage.

White slave () A woman held in involuntary confinement for purposes of prostitution; loosely, any woman forced into unwilling prostitution.

White slaver () A person engaged in procuring or holding a woman or women for unwilling prostitution.

White slaving () The action of one who procures or holds a woman or women for unwilling prostitution.

Whitewash (v. t.) In various games, to defeat (an opponent) so that he fails to score, or to reach a certain point in the game; to skunk.

reaction () A test for typhoid fever based on the fact that blood serum of one affected, in a bouillon culture of typhoid bacilli, causes the bacilli to agglutinate and lose their motility.

Wide (a.) Having or showing a wide difference between the highest and lowest price, amount of supply, etc.; as, a wide opening; wide prices, where the prices bid and asked differ by several points.

Wide-angle (a.) Having or covering an angle wider than the ordinary; -- applied to certain lenses of relatively short focus. Lenses for ordinary purposes have an angle of 50¡ or less. Wide-angle lenses may cover as much as 100¡ and are useful for photographing at short range, but the pictures appear distorted.

Widow (n.) In various games, any extra hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table.

Wiener Schnitzel () A veal cutlet variously seasoned garnished, often with lemon, sardines, and capers.

Wigwag (v. t. & i.) Act or art of wigwagging; a message wigwagged; -- chiefly attributive; as, the wigwag code.

Wikiup (n.) The hut used by the nomadic Indian tribes of the arid regions of the west and southwest United States, typically elliptical in form, with a rough frame covered with reed mats or grass or brushwood.

Wilfley table () An inclined percussion table, usually with longitudinal grooves in its surface, agitated by side blows at right angles to the flow of the pulp; -- so called after the inventor.

Wind (n.) The region of the pit of the stomach, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury; the mark.

Winding (n.) The material, as wire or rope, wound or coiled about anything, or a single round or turn of the material;

Winding (n.) a series winding, or one in which the armature coil, the field-magnet coil, and the external circuit form a continuous conductor; a shunt winding, or one of such a character that the armature current is divided, a portion of the current being led around the field-magnet coils.

Windjammer (n.) A sailing vessel or one of its crew; -- orig. so called contemptuously by sailors on steam vessels.

Windjammer (n.) An army bugler or trumpeter; any performer on a wind instrument.

Wind signal () In general, any signal announcing information concerning winds, and esp. the expected approach of winds whose direction and force are dangerous to shipping, etc. The wind-signal system of the United States Weather Bureau consists of storm, information, hurricane, hot wind, and inland storm signals.

Wind-up (n.) Act of winding up, or closing; a concluding act or part; the end.

Winesap (n.) A variety of winter apple of medium size, deep red color, and yellowish flesh of a rich, rather subacid flavor.

Wing (n.) Any surface used primarily for supporting a flying machine in flight, whether by edge-on motion, or flapping, or rotation; specif., either of a pair of supporting planes of a flying machine.

Winterkill (v. i.) To die as the result of exposure to the cold of winter; as, the tree winterkills easily.

Wire (n.) the network of hidden influences controlling the action of a person or organization; as, to pull the wires for office.

Wire (n.) A wire stretching across over a race track at the judges' stand, to mark the line at which the races end.

Wire (v. t.) To place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot.

Wireless (a.) designating, or pertaining to, a method of telegraphy, telephony, etc., in which the messages, etc., are transmitted through space by electric waves; as, a wireless message.

Wireless (n.) Short for Wireless telegraphy, Wireless telephony, etc.; as, to send a message by wireless.

Wire tapper () One that taps, or cuts in on, telegraph wires and intercepts messages;

Wire tapper () a swindler who pretends to tap wires or otherwise intercept advance telegraphic news for betting.

Wire-wound gun () A gun in the construction of which an inner tube (either entire or in segments) is wound with wire under tension to insure greater soundness and uniformity of resistance. In modern construction hoops and jackets are shrunk on over the wire.

Wiring (n.) The wires or conductors employed in a system of electric distribution.

Wisdom literature () The class of ancient Hebrew writings which deal reflectively with general ethical and religious topics, as distinguished from the prophetic and liturgical literature, and from the law. It is comprised chiefly in the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon. The "wisdom" (Hokhmah) of these writings consists in detached sage utterances on concrete issues of life, without the effort at philosophical system that appeared in the later Hellenistic reflective writing beginning with Philo Judaeus.

Witan (n. pl.) the members of the national, or king's, council which sat to assist the king in administrative and judicial matters; also, the council.

Wolfhound (n.) Originally, a large hound used in hunting wolves; now, any one of certain breeds of large dogs, some of which are nearly identical with the great Danes.

Wollaston's doublet () A magnifying glass consisting of two plano-convex lenses. It is designed to correct spherical aberration and chromatic dispersion.

Woman's Christian Temperance Union () An association of women formed in the United States in 1874, for the advancement of temperance by organizing preventive, educational, evangelistic, social, and legal work.

Wood hyacinth () A European squill (Scilla nonscripta) having a scape bearing a raceme of drooping blue, purple, white, or sometimes pink, bell-shaped flowers.

Wood partridge () Any of several small partridges of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and neighboring regions belonging to the genera Caloperdix, Rollulus, and Melanoperdix.

Word method () A method of teaching reading in which words are first taken as single ideograms and later analyzed into their phonetic and alphabetic elements; -- contrasted with the alphabet and sentence methods.

Work (n.) The causing of motion against a resisting force, measured by the product of the force into the component of the motion resolved along the direction of the force.

Workmen's compensation act () A statute fixing the compensation that a workman may recover from an employer in case of accident, esp. the British act of 6 Edw. VII. c. 58 (1906) giving to a workman, except in certain cases of "serious and willful misconduct," a right against his employer to a certain compensation on the mere occurrence of an accident where the common law gives the right only for negligence of the employer.

Workwise (adv.) In a working position or manner; as, a T rail placed workwise, i.e., resting on its base.

Wrestling (n.) Act of one who wrestles; specif., the sport consisting of the hand-to-hand combat between two unarmed contestants who seek to throw each other.

Wriggle (n.) Act of wriggling; a short or quick writhing motion or contortion.

Wen () One of the runes (/) adopted into the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, alphabet. It had the value of modern English w, and was replaced from about a. d. 1280 at first by uu, later by w.

Xanthin () A white microcrystalline nitrogenous compound, C5H4O2N4, present in muscle tissue, in the liver, spleen, pancreas, and other organs, and also in urine (in small quantities) and some urinary calculi, and in the juices of certain plants; -- so called because it leaves a yellow residue when evaporated to dryness with nitric acid. Xanthine is closely related to uric acid.

Xanthochroism (n.) Abnormal coloration of feathers in which yellow replaces the normal color, as in certain parrots. It is commonly due to lack of the dark pigment which with yellow forms green.

Xanthomelanous (a.) Of or pertaining to the lighter division of the Melanochroi, or those races having an olive or yellow complexion and black hair.

Xenon (n.) A very heavy, inert gaseous element occurring in the atmosphere in the proportion of one volume is about 20 millions. It was discovered by Ramsay and Travers in 1898. It can be condensed to a liquid boiling at -109¡ C., and to a solid which volatilizes without melting. Symbol Xe or X; atomic weight 130.2.

XP () The first two letters of the Greek word XRISTOS, Christ; -- an abbreviation used with the letters separate or, oftener, in a monogram, often inclosed in a circle, as a symbol or emblem of Christ. It use as an emblem was introduced by Constantine the Great, whence it is known as the Constantinian symbol, or monogram. See Labarum.

X-rays (n. pl.) The Rontgen rays; -- so called by their discoverer because of their enigmatical character.

Xylan (n.) A gummy substance of the pentosan class, present in woody tissue, and yielding xylose on hydrolysis; wood gum.

Xylology (n.) The branch of dendrology treating of the gross and minute structure of wood.

Xylose (n.) An unfermentable sugar of the pentose class, C5H10O5, formed by the hydrolysis of xylan; wood sugar.

Xylotomy (n.) Art of preparing sections (transverse, tangential, or radial) of wood, esp. by means of a microtome, for microscopic examination.

Yahoo (n.) One of a race of filthy brutes in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels." See in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

Jahve () A modern transliteration of the Hebrew word translated Jehovah in the Bible; -- used by some critics to discriminate the tribal god of the ancient Hebrews from the Christian Jehovah. Yahweh or Yahwe is the spelling now generally adopted by scholars.

Jahvism () The religion or worship of Yahweh (Jehovah), or the system of doctrines, etc., connected with it.

Jehovist () The author of the passages of the Old Testament, esp. those of the Hexateuch, in which God is styled Yahweh, or Jehovah; the author of the Yahwistic, or Jehovistic, Prophetic Document (J); also, the document itself.

Yakut (n.) The Turkish language of the Yakuts, a Mongolian people of northeastern Siberia, which is lingua franca over much of eastern Siberia.

Yamen (n.) In China, the official headquarters or residence of a mandarin, including court rooms, offices, gardens, prisons, etc.; the place where the business of any public department is transcated.

Yard (n.) A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.

Yautia (n.) In Porto Rico, any of several araceous plants or their starchy edible roots, which are cooked and eaten like yams or potatoes, as the taro.

Yawi (n.) A fore-and-aft-rigged vessel with a mainmast stepped a little farther forward than in a sloop and carrying a mainsail and jibs, with a jigger mast far aft, usually placed abaft the rudder post.

Yazoo Fraud () The grant by the State of Georgia, by Act of Jan. 7, 1795, of 35,000,000 acres of her western territory, for $500,000, to four companies known as the Yazoo Companies from the region granted ; -- commonly so called, the act being known as the Yazoo Frauds Act, because of alleged corruption of the legislature, every member but one being a shareholder in one or more of the companies. The act granting the land was repealed in 1796 by a new legislature, and the repealing provision was incorporated in the State constitution in 1798. In 1802 the territory was ceded to the United States. The claims of the purchasers, whom Georgia had refused to compensate, were sustained by the United States Supreme Court, which (1810) declared the repealing act of 1796 unconstitutional. Congress in 1814 ordered the lands sold and appropriated $5,000,000 to pay the claims.

Y current () The current through one branch of the star arrangement of a three-phase circuit.

Year's purchase () The amount that is yielded by the annual income of property; -- used in expressing the value of a thing in the number of years required for its income to yield its purchase price, in reckoning the amount to be paid for annuities, etc.

Yellow (a.) Cowardly; hence, dishonorable; mean; contemptible; as, he has a yellow streak.

Yellow (a.) Sensational; -- said of some newspapers, their makers, etc.; as, yellow journal, journalism, etc.

Yellow Book () In France, an official government publication bound in yellow covers.

Yelting (n.) The Florida and West Indian red snapper (Lutianus aya); also, sometimes, one of certain other allied species, as L. caxis.

Yeomanry (n.) A British volunteer cavalry force, growing out of a royal regiment of fox hunters raised by Yorkshire gentlemen in 1745 to fight the Pretender, Charles Edward. The members furnish their own horses, have fourteen days' annual camp training, and receive pay and allowance when on duty. In 1901 the name was altered to imperial yeomanry in recognition of the services of the force in the Boer war. See Army organization, above.

Yiddish (n.) A language used by German and other Jews, being a Middle German dialect developed under Hebrew and Slavic influence. It is written in Hebrew characters.

Yoke (n.) A clamp or similar piece that embraces two other parts to hold or unite them in their respective or relative positions, as a strap connecting a slide valve to the valve stem, or the soft iron block or bar permanently connecting the pole pieces of an electromagnet, as in a dynamo.

Yom (n.) Day; -- a Hebrew word used in the names of various Jewish feast days; as, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; Yom Teruah (lit., day of shouting), the Feast of Trumpets.

York rite () The rite or ceremonial observed by one of the Masonic systems, deriving its name from the city of York, in England; also, the system itself, which, in England, confers only the first three degrees.

Young Men's Christian Association () An organization for promoting the spiritual, intellectual, social, and physical welfare of young men, founded, June 6, 1844, by George Williams (knighted therefor by Queen Victoria) in London. In 1851 it extended to the United States and Canada, and in 1855 representatives of similar organizations throughout Europe and America formed an international body. The movement has successfully expanded not only among young men in general, but also specifically among railroad men, in the army and navy, with provision for Indians and negroes, and a full duplication of all the various lines of oepration in the boys' departments.

Young Women's Christian Association () An organization for promoting the spiritual, intellectual, social, and economic welfare of young women, originating in 1855 with Lady Kinnaird's home for young women, and Miss Emma Robert's prayer union for young women,in England, which were combined in the year 1884 as a national association. Now nearly all the civilized countries, and esp. the United States, have local, national, and international organizations.

Yucca borer () A large mothlike butterfly (Megathymus yuccae) of the family Megatimidae, whose larva bores in yucca roots.

Yuman (a.) Designating, or pertaining to, an important linguistic stock of North American Indians of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, nearly all agriculturists and adept potters and basket makers. Their usual dwelling is the brush wikiup, and in their native state they wear little clothing. The Yuma, Maricopa, Mohave, Walapi, and Yavapai are among the chief tribes, all of fine physique.

Yunca (n.) An Indian of a linguistic stock of tribes of the Peruvian coast who had a developed agricultural civilization at the advent of the Spaniards, before which they had been conquered by the Incas. They constructed irrigation canals which are still in use, adorned their buildings with bas-reliefs and frescoes, and were skilled goldsmiths and silversmiths.

Zapatera (n.) A cured olive which has spoiled or is on the verge of decomposition; loosely, an olive defective because of bruises, wormholes, or the like.

Zastrugi (n. pl.) Grooves or furrows formed in snow by the action of the wind, and running parallel with the direction of the wind. This formation results from the erosion of transverse waves previously formed.

Zeeman effect () The widening and duplication, triplication, etc., of spectral lines when the radiations emanate in a strong magnetic field, first observed in 1896 by P. Zeeman, a Dutch physicist, and regarded as an important confirmation of the electromagnetic theory of light.

Zeitgeist (n.) The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.

Zemstvo (n.) In Russia, an elective local district and provincial administrative assembly. Originally it was composed of representatives elected by the peasantry, the householders of the towns, and the landed proprietors. In the reign of Alexander III. the power of the noble landowners was increased, the peasants allowed only to elect candidates from whom the governor of the province nominated the deputy, and all acts of the zemstvo subjected to the approval of the governor. Theoretically the zemstvo has large powers relating to taxation, education, public health, etc., but practically these powers are in most cases limited to the adjustment of the state taxation.

Zeppelin (n.) A dirigible balloon of the rigid type, consisting of a cylindrical trussed and covered frame supported by internal gas cells, and provided with means of propulsion and control. It was first successfully used by Ferdinand Count von Zeppelin.

Zikkurat (n.) A temple tower of the Babylonians or Assyrians, consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure, built in successive stages, with outside staircases, and a shrine at the top.

Zimocca (n.) A sponge (Euspongia zimocca) of flat form and fine quality, from the Adriatic, about the Greek islands, and the coast of Barbary.

Zincograph (n.) A zinc plate prepared for printing by zincography; also, a print from such a plate.

Zionism (n.) Among the Jews, a theory, plan, or movement for colonizing their own race in Palestine, the land of Zion, or, if that is impracticable, elsewhere, either for religious or nationalizing purposes; -- called also Zion movement.

Zircon light () A light, similar to the calcium light, produced by incandescent zirconia.

Zizith (n. pl.) The tassels of twisted cords or threads on the corners of the upper garment worn by strict Jews. The Hebrew for this word is translated in both the Authorized and Revised Versions (Deut. xxii. 12) by the word "fringes."

Zoism (n.) Reverence for animal life or belief in animal powers and influences, as among savages.

Zoism (n.) A doctrine, now discarded, that the phenomena of life are due to a peculiar vital principle; the theory of vital force.

Zolaism (n.) The literary theories and practices of the French novelist Emile Zola (1840-1902); naturalism, esp. in a derogatory sense.

Zollner's lines () Parallel lines that are made to appear convergent or divergent by means of oblique intersections.

Zone (n.) An area or part of a region characterized by uniform or similar animal and plant life; a life zone; as, Littoral zone, Austral zone, etc.

Zone (n.) A series of faces whose intersection lines with each other are parallel.

Zone (n.) The aggregate of stations, in whatsoever direction or on whatsoever line of railroad, situated between certain maximum and minimum limits from a point at which a shipment of traffic originates.

Zone (n.) Any circular or ring-shaped area within which the street-car companies make no differences of fare.

Zone (n.) In the United States parcel-post system, any of the areas about any point of shipment for which but one rate of postage is charged for a parcel post shipment from that point. The rate increases from within outwards. The first zone includes the unit of area "(a quadrangle 30 minutes square)" in which the place of shipment is situated and the 8 contiguous units; the outer limits of the second to the seventh zones, respectively, are approximately 150, 300, 600, 1000, 1400, and 1800 miles from the point of shipment; the eighth zone includes all units of area outside the seventh zone.

Zulu (n.) One of the most important members of the South African, or Bantu, family of languages, spoken partly in Natal and partly in Zululand, but understood, and more or less in use, over a wide territory, at least as far north as the Zambezi; -- called also Zulu-Kaffir.

Zulu-Kaffir (n.) A member of the Bantu race comprising the Zulus and the Kaffirs.

Zu–ian (a.) Of or pert. to the Zu–is, or designating their linguistic stock.

Zwieback (n.) A kind of biscuit or rusk first baked in a loaf and afterwards cut and toasted.

Zwinglian (a.) Of or pertaining to Ulric Zwingli (1481-1531), the reformer of German Switzerland, who maintained that in the Lord's Supper the true body of Christ is present by the contemplation of faith but not in essence or reality, and that the sacrament is a memorial without mystical elements.

Zymolysis (n.) The action of enzymes; also, the changes produced by such action.

Zymoscope (n.) An apparatus for determining the fermenting power of yeast by measuring the amount of carbonic acid evolved from a given quantity of sugar.