# Dictionary

Topic: Borne
Definition:
BORNE, pp. of bear.  Carried; conveyed; supported; defrayed.
BORNE,n.  The more correct orthography of bourn, a limit or boundary.  [See Bourn.]


Topic: Borough
Definition:
BOROUGH, n.  bur'ro.  [L.parcus, saving.]  Originally, a fortified city or town; hence a hill, for hills were selected for places of defense. But in later times, the term city was substituted to denote an episcopal town, in which was the see of a bishop, and that of borough was retained for the rest.  At present, the name is given appropriately to such towns and villages as send representatives or burgesses to Parliament.  Some boroughs are incorporated, other are not.
BOROUGH, n.  bur'ro.  In Saxon times, a main pledge, or association of men, who were sureties or free pledges to the king for the good behavior of each other, and if any offense was committed in their district, they were bound to have the offender forthcoming. The association of ten men was called a tithing, or decenary; the presiding man was called the tithing man, or head-borough; or in some places, borsholder, borough's elder.  This society was called also friburg, free burg, frank pledge.  Ten tithings formed a hundred, consisting of that number of sureties, and this denomination is still given to the districts, comprehended in the association. The term seems to have been used both for the society and for each surety. The word main, hand, which is attached to this society, or their mutual assurance, indicates that the agreement was ratified by shaking hands.
Some writers have suggested that the application of this word to towns sprung from these associations, and of course was posterior to them in time.  But the word was used for a town or castle in other nations, and in Asia, doubtless long before the origin of the frank pledge.
In Connecticut, this word, borough, is used for a town or a part of a town, or a village, incorporated with certain privileges, distinct from those of other towns and of cities; as the Borough of Bridgeport.
In Scotland, a borough is a body corporate, consisting of the inhabitants of a certain district,erected by the Sovereign, with a certain jurisdiction.
Boroughs are erected to be held of the sovereign, as is generally the case of royal boroughs; or of the superior of the lands included, as in the case of boroughs of regality and barony.  Royal boroughs are generally erected for the advantage of trade.
Boroughs English, is a customary descent of lands and tenements to the youngest son, instead of the eldest; or if the owner leaves no son, to the youngest brother.
Borough English,is a customary descent of lands and tenements to the youngest son, instead of the eldest; or if the owner leaves no son, to the youngest brother.
Borough-head, the same as head-borough, the chief of a borough.


Topic: Borrelists
Definition:
BOR'RELISTS, n.  In church history, a sect of Christians in Holland, so called from Borrel, their founder, who reject the use of the sacraments, public prayer and all external worship. They lead a very austere life.


Topic: Borrow
Definition:
BOR'ROW, v.t.
1.  To take from another by request and consent, with a view to use the thing taken for a time, and return it, or if the thing taken is to be consumed or transferred in the use, then to return an equivalent in kind; as, to borrow a book, a sum of money,or a loaf of bread.  It is opposed to lend.
2.  To take from another, for one's own use; to copy or select from the writings of another author; as, to borrow a passage from a printed book; to borrow a title.
3.  To take or adopt for one's own use, sentiments, principles, doctrines and the like; as, to borrow instruction.
4.  To take for use something that belongs to another; to assume, copy or imitate; as, to borrow a shape; to borrow the manners of another, or his style of writing.
BOR'ROW, n.  A borrowing; the act of borrowing. [Not used.]
But of your royal presence I'll adventure.
The borrow of a week. 


Topic: Borrowed
Definition:
BOR'ROWED, pp.  Taken by consent of another, to be returned or its equivalent in kind; copies; assumed.


Topic: Borrower
Definition:
BOR'ROWER, n.  One who borrows; opposed to lender.  [See the verb.]
1.  One who takes what belongs to another to use as one's own.


Topic: Borrowing
Definition:
BOR'ROWING, ppr.  Taking by consent to use and return, or to return its equivalent; taking what belongs to another to use as one's own; copying;  assuming; imitating.
BOR'ROWING, n.  The act of borrowing. [See the verb.]


Topic: Borsholder
Definition:
BORS'HOLDER, n.  [A contraction of burh's ealdor, borough's elder, the elder or chief of a borough.]
The head or chief of a tithing or burg of ten men;; the head-borough.


Topic: Bos
Definition:
BOS, n.  [L.]  In zoology, the technical name of a genus of quadrupeds. The characters are, the horns are hollow within and turned outward in the form of crescents; there are eight fore teeth in the under jaw, but none in the upper; there are no dog teeth.  The species are, the Taurus or common ox, the Urus, aurochs or bison of Europe, the Bison or buffalo of North America, the Bubalus or proper buffalo of the Eastern continent, the Caffer or Cape buffalo, the Grunniens or yak of Thibet, and the Moschatus or musk ox of Arctic America.


Topic: Boscage
Definition:
BOSC'AGE, n.  [Eng.bush.]
1.  Wood; under-wood; perhaps, sometimes, lands covered with underwood; also, a thicket.
2. In old laws, food or sustenance for cattle, which is yielded by bushes and trees.
3.  With painters, a landscape, representing thickets of wood.


Topic: Bosom
Definition:
BO'SOM, n.  s as z.  
1.  The breast of a human being and the parts adjacent.
2.  The folds or covering of clothes about the breast.
Put thy hand in thy bosom. Ex.4.
3.  Embrace, as with the arms; inclosure; compass; often implying friendship or affection; as, to live in the bosom of a church.
4.  The breast, as inclosing the heart; or the interior of the breast, considered as the seat of the passions.
Anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Eccles. 7.
Their soul was poured into their mother's bosom.  Lam.2.
5.  The breast, or its interior, considered as a close place, the receptacle of secrets.
If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom.  Job.31.
6.  Any inclosed place; the interior; as the bosom of the earth or of the deep.
7.  The tender affections; kindness; favor; as the son of his bosom; the wife of thy bosom.
He shall carry the lambs in his bosom. Is.40.
8.  The arms, or embrace of the arms. Ps. 129.
9.  Inclination; desire. [Not used.]
Bosom, in composition, implies intimacy, affection and confidence; as a bosom-friend, an intimate or confidential friend; bosom-lover, bosom-interest, bosom-secret, &c. In such phrases, bosom may be considered as an attribute equivalent to intimate, confidential, dear.
BO'SOM, v.t.  To inclose in the bosom; to keep with care.
Bosom up my counsel.
1.  To conceal; to hide from view.
To happy convents bosom'd deep in vines.


Topic: Bosporian
Definition:
BOSPO'RIAN, a.  [from Bosporus.]  Pertaining to a bosporus, a strait or narrow sea between two seas, or a sea and a lake.
The Alans forced the Bosporian kings to pay them  tribute, and exterminated the Taurians.


Topic: Bosporus
Definition:
BOS'PORUS, n.  [Gr. an ox, and a passage.]
A narrow sea or a strait, between two seas or between a sea and a lake, so called, it is supposed, as being an ox-passage, a strait over which an ox may swim.  So our northern ancestors called a strait, a sound, that is, a swim. The term Bosporus has been particularly applied to the strait between the Propontis and the Euxine, called the Thracian Bosporus; and to the strait of Caffa, called the Cimmerian Bosporus, which connects the Palus Maeotis or sea of Azof, with the Euxine.


Topic: Bossage
Definition:
BOSS'AGE, n.
1.  A stone in a building which has a projecture, and is laid rough, to be afterwards carved into moldings, capitals, coats of arms, &c.
2.  Rustic work, consisting of stones which advance beyond the naked or level of the building, by reason of indentures or channels left in the joinings; chiefly in the corners of edifices, and called rustic quoins.  The cavities are sometimes round, sometimes beveled or in a diamond form, sometimes inclosed with a cavetto, and sometimes with a listel.


Topic: Botanist
Definition:
BOT'ANIST, n.  One skilled in botany; one versed in the knowledge of plants or vegetables,their structure, and generic and specific differences.
The botanist is he who can affix similar names to similar vegetables, and different names to different ones, so as to be intelligible to every one.


Topic: Botanize
Definition:
BOT'ANIZE, v.i.  To seek for plants; to investigate the vegetable kingdom; to study plants.
He could not obtain permission to botanize upon mount Sabber.


Topic: Botanomancy
Definition:
BOTANOM'ANCY, n.  An ancient species of divination by means of plants, especially sage and fig leaves. Persons wrote their names and questions on leaves, which they exposed to the wind, and as many of the letters as remained in their places were taken up, and being joined together, contained an answer to the question.


Topic: Botany
Definition:
BOTANY, n.  [Gr. a plant.]  That branch of natural history which treats of vegetables; a science which treats of the different plants, and of the distinguishing marks by which each individual species may be known from every other.
Or, botany is the science of the structure,functions, properties, habits and arrangement of plants,and of the technical characters by which they are distinguished.


Topic: Botargo
Definition:
BOTAR'GO, n.  A relishing sort of food, made of the roes of the mullet, much used on the coast of the Mediterranean, as an incentive to drink.


Topic: Botch
Definition:
BOTCH, n.  [Eng.patch.]
1.  A swelling on the skin; a large ulcerous affection.
Botches and blains must all his flesh imboss.
2.  A patch,or the part of a garment patched or mended in a
clumsy manner; ill-finished work in mending.
3.  That which resembles a botch; a part added clumsily; adventitious or ill-applied words.
If those words are not notorious botches, I am deceived.


Topic: Bote
Definition:
BOTE, n.  [The old orthography of boot, but retained in law, in composition.
1.  In law, compensation; amends; satisfaction; as manbote, a compensation for a man slain. Also,payment of any kind.
2.  A privilege or allowance of necessaries, used in composition as equivalent to the French estovers, supplies,necessaries; as house-bote, a sufficiency of wood to repair a house or for fuel, sometimes called fire-bote; so plow-bote, cart-bote, wood for making or repairing instruments of husbandry; hay-bote or hedge-bote, wood for hedges or fences, &c.  These were privileges enjoyed by tenants under the feudal system.


Topic: Botetto
Definition:
BOTET'TO, n.  A small thick fish of Mexico, about eight inches long, with a flat belly, and convex back. When taken out of the water it swells, and if kicked, will burst.  Its liver is deadly poison.


Topic: Both
Definition:
BOTH, a.  Two, considered as distinct from others or by themselves; the one and the other.
This word is often placed before the nouns with which it is connected.
He understands how to manage both public and private concerns.
It is often used as a substitute for nouns.
And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.  Gen.21.
Both often represents two members of a sentence.
He will not bear the loss of his rank, because he can bear the loss of his estate; but he will bear both, because he is prepared for both.
Both often pertains to adjectives or attributes,and in this case generally precedes them in construction; as, he endeavored to render commerce both disadvantageous and infamous.


Topic: Bothnian
Definition:
BOTH'NIAN, a.  Pertaining to Bothnia, a province of Sweden, and to a gulf of the Baltic sea, which is so called from the province, which it penetrates. Pinkerton uses Bothnic, as a noun for the gulf, and Barlow uses Bothnian, in the same manner.


Topic: Botryolite
Definition:
BO'TRYOLITE, n. [Gr. supra, and stone.]
Literally, grape-stone.  This mineral occurs in mammilliary or botryoidal concretions, in a bed of magnetic iron in gneiss, near Arendal in Norway.  Its colors are pearl-gray, grayish or reddish white, and pale rose-red, and form concentric stripes.
Botryolite is a variety of siliceous borate of lime.  It is found near the Passaic falls in New Jersey.


Topic: Bots
Definition:
BOTS, n.  Generally used in the plural.  
A species of small worms found in the intestines of horses.  They are the larvas of a species of OEstrus or gad-fly, which deposits its eggs on the tips of the hairs, generally of the fore-legs and mane, whence they are taken into the mouth and swallowed. This word is also applied to the larvas of other species of OEstrus,found under the hides of oxen, in the nostrils of sheep, &c.


Topic: Bottle
Definition:
BOT'TLE, n.  
1.  A hollow vessel of glass, wood, leather or other material, with a narrow mouth, for holding and carrying liquors.  The oriental nations use skins or leather for the conveyance of liquors; and of this kind are the bottles mentioned in scripture.  'Put new wine into bottles.'  In Europe and America, glass is used for liquors of all kinds; and farmers use small cags or hollow vessels of wood.  The small kinds of glass bottles are called vials or phials.
2.  The contents of a bottle; as much as a bottle contains; but from the size of bottles used for wine, porter and cyder, a bottle is nearly a quart; as a bottle of wine or a porter.
3.  A quantity of hay in a bundle; a bundle of hay.
BOT'TLE, v.t.  To put into bottles; as, to bottle wine or porter.  This includes the stopping of the bottles with corks.


Topic: Bottom
Definition:
BOT'TOM, n.  
1.  The lowest part of any thing; as the bottom of a well, vat or ship; the bottom of a hill.
2.  The ground under any body of water; as the bottom of the sea, of a river or lake.
3.  The foundation or ground work of any thing, as of an edifice,or of any system or moral subject; the base, or that which supports any superstructure.
4.  A low ground; a dale; a valley; applied in the U. States to the flat lands adjoining rivers, &c.  It is so used in some parts of England.
5.  The deepest part; that which is most remote from the view; as, let us examine this subject to the bottom.
6.  Bound; limit.
There is no bottom in my voluptuousness.
7. The utmost extent or depth of cavity, or of intellect, whether deep or shallow.
I do see the bottom of justice Shallow.
8.  The foundation, considered as the cause, spring or origin; the first moving cause; as, a foreign prince is at the bottom of the confederacy.
9.  A ship or vessel.  Goods imported in foreign bottoms pay a higher duty, than those imported in our own.  Hence, a state of hazard,chance or risk; but in this sense it is used chiefly or solely in the singular. We say, venture not too much in one bottom; that is, do not hazard too much at a single risk.
    10. A ball of thread.
    11. The bottom of a lane or alley, is the lowest end. This phrase supposed a declivity; but it is often used for the most remote part, when there is very little declivity.
    12. The bottom of beer, or other liquor,is the grounds or dregs.
    13. In the language of jockeys, stamina, native strength; as a horse of good bottom.
BOT'TOM, v.t.  To found or build upon; to fix upon as a support; followed  by on; as, sound reasoning is bottomed on just premises.
1.  To furnish with a seat or bottom; as, to bottom a chair.
2.  To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread.
BOT'TOM, v.i.  To rest upon, as its ultimate support.
Find on what foundation a proposition bottoms.


Topic: Bottomed
Definition:
BOT'TOMED, pp.  Furnished with a bottom; having a bottom
This word is often used in composition, as a flat-bottomed boat, in which case the compound becomes an adjective.


Topic: Bottomless
Definition:
BOT'TOMLESS, a.  Without a bottom; applied to water, caverns &c., it signified fathomless, whose bottom cannot be found by sounding; as a bottomless abyss or ocean.


Topic: Bottomry
Definition:
BOT'TOMRY, n.  [from bottom.]  The act of borrowing money, and pledging the keel or bottom of the ship, that is, the ship itself, as security for the repayment of the money.  The contract of bottomry is in the nature of a mortgage; the owner of a ship borrowing money to enable him to carry on a voyage, and pledging the ship as security for the money.  If the ship is lost,the lender loses the money; but if the ship arrives safe, he is to receive the money lent, with the interest or premium stipulated, although it may exceed the legal rate of interest.  The tackle of the ship also is answerable for the debt, as well as the person of the borrower. When a loan is made upon the goods shipped, the borrower is said to take up money at respondentia, as he is bound personally to answer the contract.


Topic: Bottony
Definition:
BOT'TONY, n.  [from the same root as bud, button.]
In heraldry, a cross bottony terminates at each end in three buds, knots or buttons, resembling in some measure the three-leaved grass.


Topic: Bought
Definition:
BOUGHT, bast, pret. and pp. of buy.  [See Buy.]
BOUGHT, n.  bawt.
1.  A twist; a link; a knot; a flexure, or bend.
2.  The part of a sling that contains the stone.


Topic: Bougie
Definition:
BOUGIE,n.  boogee'.
In Surgery, a long slender instrument, that is introduced through the urethra into the bladder, to remove obstructions.  It is usually made of slips of waxed linen, coiled into a slightly conical form by rolling them on any hard smooth surface.  It is also made of catgut, elastic gum and metal; but those of waved linen are generally preferred.


Topic: Boulder-wall
Definition:
BOULDER-WALL, n.  [rather bowlder-wall.  See Bowlder.]
A wall built of round flints or pebbles laid in a strong mortar, used where the sea has a beach cast up, or where there is a plenty of flints.


Topic: Boulet
Definition:
BOULET', n.  [from the root of ball, or bowl.]
In the manege, a horse is so called,when the fetlock or pastern joint bends forward, and out of its natural position.


Topic: Boultin
Definition:
BOULTIN, n.  [from the root of bolt.]
In architecture, a molding, the convexity of which is just one fourth of a circle, being a member just below the plinth in the Tuscan and Doric capital.


Topic: Bounce
Definition:
BOUNCE, v.i.
1.  To leap or spring; to fly or rush out suddenly.
Out bounced the mastiff.
2.  To spring or leap against any thing, so as to rebound; to beat or thump by a spring.
Against his bosom bounced his heaving heart.
3.  To beat hard, or thump, so as to make a sudden noise.
Another bounced as hard as he could knock.
4.  To boast or bully; used in familiar speech.
5.  To be bold or strong.
BOUNCE, n.  A heavy blow, thrust or thump with a large solid body.
The bounce burst open the door.
1.  A loud heavy sound, as by an explosion.
2.  A boast; a threat; in low language.
3.  A fish; a species of squalus or shark.


Topic: Bouncing
Definition:
BOUN'CING, ppr.  Leaping; bounding with violence, as a heavy body; springing out; thumping with a loud noise; boasting; moving with force, as a heavy bounding body.
BOUN'CING, a.  Stout; strong; large and heavy; a customary sense in the United States; as a bouncing lass.


Topic: Bound
Definition:
BOUND, n.
1.  A limit; the line which comprehends the whole of any given object or space.  It differs from boundary.  See the latter.  Bound is applied to kingdoms, states,cities, towns, tracts of land, and to territorial jurisdiction.
2. A limit by which any excursion is restrained; the limit of indulgence or desire; as, the love of money knows no bounds.
3.  A leap; a spring; a jump; a rebound.
4.  In dancing, a spring from one foot to the other.
BOUND, v.t.  To limit; to terminate; to fix the furthest point of extension,whether of natural or moral objects, as of land, or empire, or of passion, desire,indulgence.  Hence, to restrain or confine; as, to bound our wishes. To bound in is hardly legitimate.
1.  To make to bound.
BOUND, v.i.  To leap; to jump; to spring; to move forward by leaps.
Before his lord the ready spaniel bounds.
1.  To rebound--but the sense is the same.
BOUND, pret. and pp. of bind.  As a participle, made fast by a band,or by chains or fetters; obliged by moral ties; confined; restrained.
1.  As a participle or perhaps more properly an adj.,destined; tending; going, or intending to go; with to or for; as, a ship is bound to Cadiz, or for Cadiz.
 The application of this word,in this use, is taken from the orders given for the government of the voyage,implying obligation, or from tending, stretching. So destined implies being bound.
Bound is used in composition, as in ice-bound, wind-bound, when a ship is confined or prevented from sailing by ice or by contrary winds.
 


Topic: Bound-bailiff
Definition:
BOUND-BAILIFF, n.  An officer appointed by a sheriff to execute process; so denominated from the bond given for the faithful discharge of his trust.


Topic: Boundary
Definition:
BOUND'ARY, n.  A limit; a bound.  This word is thus used as synonymous with bound. But the real sense is, a visible mark designating a limit.  Bound is the limit itself or furthest point of extension, and may be an imaginary line; but boundary is the thing which ascertains the limit; terminus,not finis.  Thus by a statute of Connecticut, it is enacted that the inhabitants of every town shall procure its bounds to be set out by such marks and boundaries as may be a plain direction for the future; which marks and boundaries shall be a great heap of stones or a ditch of six feet long, &c.  This distinction is observed also in the statute of Massachusetts.  But the two words are, in ordinary use, confounded.


Topic: Bounding
Definition:
BOUND'ING, ppr  Limiting; confining; restraining; leaping; springing; rebounding; advancing with leaps.


Topic: Boundless
Definition:
BOUND'LESS, a. Unlimited; unconfined; immeasurable; illimitable; as boundless space; boundless power.


Topic: Bounteous
Definition:
BOUN'TEOUS, a.  [See Bounty.] Liberal in charity; disposed to give freely; generous; munificent; beneficent; free in bestowing gifts; as bounteous nature.  It is used chiefly in poetry for bountiful.


Topic: Bountiful
Definition:
BOUN'TIFUL, a.  [bounty and full.]  Free to give; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors; munificent; generous.
God, the bountiful author of our being.
It is followed by of before the thing given, and to before the person receiving.


Topic: Bountifulness
Definition:
BOUN'TIFULNESS, n.  The quality of being bountiful; liberality in the bestowment of gifts and favors.


Topic: Bourgeois
Definition:
BOURGEOIS', n.  burjois'.  A small kind of printing types, in size between long primer and brevier.  The type on which the main body of this work is printed.


Topic: Bourn
Definition:
BOURN, rather BORNE, n.  
1.  A bound; a limit.
That undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns.-------
2.  A brook; a torrent; a rivulet.  [In this sense obsolete; but retained in many names of towns, seated on the banks of streams. In Scotland, it is still used in the sense of a brook, but they write it burn.]


Topic: Bout
Definition:
BOUT, n.  A turn; as much of an action as is performed at one time; a single part of an action carried on at successive intervals; essay; attempt.
BOUT, n.  [L. bibo.]  We use this word tautologically in the phrase, a drinking-bout; or the word is the same as the preceding.


Topic: Boutisale
Definition:
BOUTISALE, n.  A cheap sale; or according to others, a sale by a lighted match, during the burning of which a man may bid.  [Not used.]


Topic: Bovate
Definition:
BO'VATE, n.  [In Law L. bovata, from bos, bovis, an ox.]
An ox-gate, or as much land as an ox can plow in a year;  Cowell says 28 acres.


Topic: Bovey-coal
Definition:
BO'VEY-COAL, n.  Brown lignite, an inflammable fossil, resembling, in many of its properties, bituminous wood.  Its structure is a little slaty; its cross fracture, even or conchoidal, with a resinous luster, somewhat shining.  It is brittle, burns with a weak flame, and exhales an odor, which is generally disagreeable.


Topic: Bovine
Definition:
BO'VINE, a.  [Los L. bovinus, from bos, bovis, an ox.]
Pertaining to oxen and cows, or the quadrupeds of the genus bos.
This animal is the strongest and fiercest of the bovine genus.
The ox-born souls mean nothing more than the eight living souls, who issued from their allegorical mother, the bovine ark.


Topic: Bow
Definition:
BOW, v.t.  
1.  To bend; to inflect; as, to bow vines.
2.  To bend the body in token of respect or civility; as, to bow the head.
3.  To bend or incline towards, in condescension.
Bow down thine ear to the poor.  Eccles.
4.  To depress; to crush; to subdue.
His heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave.
He bows the nations to his will.
BOW, v.i.  To bend; to curve; to be inflected; to bend, in token of reverence, respect or civility; often with down.
This is the idol to which the world bows.
1.  To stoop; to fall upon the knees.
The people bowed upon their knees. 
2.  To sink under pressure.
They stoop; they bow down together. Isaiah.
BOW, n.  An inclination of the head, or a bending of the body, in token of reverence, respect, civility, or submission.
BOW, n.  [See bow, to bend.]  An instrument of war, and hunting, made of wood, or other elastic matter, with a string fastened to each end. The bow being bent by drawing the string, and suddenly returning to its natural state by its elastic force, throws an arrow to a great distance, and with force sufficient to kill an animal.  It is of two kinds, the long-bow, and the cross-bow, arbalest or arbalest.  The use of the bow is called archery.
1.  Any thing bent, or in form of a curve; the rainbow; the doubling of a string in a knot; the part of a yoke which embraces the neck; &c.
2.  A small machine, formed with a stick and hairs, which being drawn over the strings of an instrument of music, causes it to sound.
3.  A beam of wood or brass, with three long screws that direct a lathe of wood or steel to any arch; used in forming drafts of ships, and projections of the sphere, or wherever it is necessary to draw large arches.
4.  An instrument for taking the sun's altitude at sea, consisting of a large arch of ninety degrees graduated, a shank or staff, a side-vane, a sight-vane, and a horizon-vane; now disused.
5.  An instrument in use among smiths for turning a drill; with turners, for turning wood; with hatters, for breaking fur and wool.
6.  Bows of a saddle, are the two pieces of wood laid archwise to receive the upper part of a horse's back, to give the saddle its due form, and to keep it tight.
7.  Bow of a ship, is the rounding part of her side forward, beginning where the planks arch inwards, and terminating where they close, at the stem or prow.  A narrow bow is called a lean bow; a broad one, a bold or bluff bow.
On the bow, in navigation, is an arch of the horizon, not exceeding 45 degrees, comprehended between some distant object, and that point of the compass which is right ahead.


Topic: Bow-bearer
Definition:
BOW-BEARER, n.  [bos and bear.]  An under officer of the forest, whose duty is to inform of trespasses.


Topic: Bow-dye
Definition:
BOW-DYE, n.  A kind of scarlet color, superior to madder, but inferior to the true scarlet grain for fixedness, and duration; first used at Bow, near London.


Topic: Bowels
Definition:
BOW'ELS, n.  plu.
1.  The intestines of an animal; the entrails, especially of man.  The heart. 2.Cor.6.12.
2. The interior part of any thing; as the bowels of the earth.
3. The seat of pity or kindness; hence, tenderness, compassion, a scriptural sense.
Bowel, in the singular, is sometimes used for gut.


Topic: Bower
Definition:
BOW'ER,n.  [from bow.]  An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.  There are generally two bowers, called first and second, great and little, or best and small.
BOW'ER, n.  
1.  A shelter or covered place in a garden, made with boughs of trees bent and twined together.  It differs from arbor in that it may be round or square, whereas an arbor is long and arched.
2.  A bed-chamber; any room in a house except the hall.
3.  A country seat; a cottage.
4.  A shady recess; a plantation for shade.
BOW'ER, v.t. To embower to inclose.
BOW'ER, v.i.  To lodge.


Topic: Bowge
Definition:
BOWGE, v.i.  To swell out.  [See Bouge.]
BOWGE, v.t.  To perforate; as, to bowge a ship.
[I do not find this word in any other author.]


Topic: Bowl
Definition:
BOWL, n.  [In Latin, vola is the hollow of the hand.]
1.  A concave vessel to hold liquors, rather wide than deep, and thus distinguished from a cup, which is rather deep than wide.
2.  The hollow part of any thing; as the bowl of a spoon.
3.  A basin; a fountain.
BOWL, n.  A ball of wood used for play on a level plat of ground.
BOWL, v.i.  To play with bowls, or at bowling.
BOWL, v.t.  To roll as a bowl; also, to pelt with any thing rolled.


Topic: Bowlder
Definition:
BOWLDER, n.  [from bowl.]  A small stone of a roundish form, and of no determinate size, found on the sea shore and on the banks or in the channels of rivers, &c., worn smooth or rounded by the action of water; a pebble.
The term bowlder is now used in Geology for rounded masses of any rock, found out of place, and apparently transported from their original bed by water. Bowlders of Granite,often of great size, are very common on the surface of the most recent formations.


Topic: Bowlder-wall
Definition:
BOWLDER-WALL, n.  A wall constructed of pebbles or bowlders of flint or other siliceous stones, which have been rounded by the action of water.


Topic: Bowline
Definition:
BOWLINE, n.  A rope fastened near the middle of the leech or perpendicular edge of the square sails, by subordinate parts, called bridles, and used to keep the weather edge of the sail tight forward,when the ship is close hauled.bridles, are the ropes by which the bowline is fastened to the leech of the sail.


Topic: Bowling-green
Definition:
BOWLING-GREEN, n.  [bowl and green.] A level piece of ground kept smooth for bowling.
1.  In gardening, a parterre in a grove,laid with fine turf, with compartments of divers figures, with dwarf trees and other decorations.  It may be used for bowling; but the French and Italians have such greens for ornament.


Topic: Bownet
Definition:
BOWNET, n.  [bow and net.]  An engine for catching lobsters and crawfish, called also bow-wheel.  It is made of two round wicker baskets, pointed at the end, one of which is thrust into the other, and at the mouth is a little rim bent inwards.


Topic: Bowse
Definition:
BOWSE, v.i.  In seaman's language, to pull or haul; as, to bowse upon a tack; to bowse away, to pull all together.


Topic: Bowsprit
Definition:
BOWSPRIT, n.  [bow and sprit.]  A large boom or spar, which projects over the stem of a ship or other vessel, to carry sail forward.  [This is probably the true orthography.]


Topic: Bowyer
Definition:
BOWYER, n.  [from bow, a corruption of bower,like sawyer.]
An archer; one who uses a bow; one who makes bows.  [Little used.]


Topic: Box
Definition:
BOX, n.  [Lat. buxus, the tree, and pyxis, a box; Gr. a box, and the tree.]
A coffer or chest, either of wood or metal. In general, the word box is used for a case of rough boards, or more slightly made than a chest,and used for the conveyance of goods.  But the name is applied to cases of any size and of any materials; as a wooden box, a tin box, an iron box, a strong box.
1.  The quantity that a box contains; as a box of quicksilver; a box or rings. In some cases,the quantity called a box is fixed by custom; in others,it is uncertain, as a box of tea or sugar.
2.  A certain seat in a play-house, or in any public room.
3.  The case which contains the mariner's compass.
4.  A money chest.
5.  A tree or shrub, constituting the genus buxus, used for bordering flower-beds.  The African box is the myrsine.
6.  A blow on the head with the hand, or on the ear with the open hand.
7.  A cylindrical hollow iron used in wheels, in which the axle-tree runs.  Also, a hollow tube in a pump, closed with a valve.
BOX, v.i.  To fight with the fist; to combat with the hand or fist.
BOX, v.t.  To inclose in a box; also, to furnish with boxes, as a wheel or block.
1.  To strike with the hand or fist, especially the ear or side of the head.
2.  To rehearse the several points of the compass in their proper order.
3.  To make a hole or cut in a tree, to procure the sap; as, to box a maple.
4.  To sail round.


Topic: Boxed
Definition:
BOX'ED, pp. Inclosed in a box; struck on the head with the fist or hand; furnished with a box or hollow iron, as a wheel.


Topic: Boxing
Definition:
BOX'ING, ppr.  Inclosing in a box; striking with the fist; furnishing with a box.
BOX'ING, n. The act of fighting with the fist; a combat with the fist.


Topic: Boy
Definition:
BOY, n.  [L. puer for puger, for we see by puella, that r is not radical.  So the Gr. probably is contracted, for the derivative verb, forms.]
A male child, from birth to the age of puberty; but in general, applied to males under ten or twelve years of age; a lad.  Sometimes it is used in contempt for a young man, indicating immaturity, want of vigor or judgment.
BOY, v.t.  To treat as a boy.
Rather, to act as a boy; to imitate a boy in action. The passage in Shakespeare,in which this word is found,is supposed to allude to the practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage.
I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness.


Topic: Boyau
Definition:
BOY'AU, n.  boy'o.  In fortification, a ditch covered with a parapet, serving as a communication between two trenches.


Topic: Boyish
Definition:
BOY'ISH, a.  Belonging to a boy; childish; trifling; resembling a boy in manners or opinions; puerile.


Topic: Boyuna
Definition:
BOYU'NA, n.  A large serpent of America, black and slender, having an intolerable smell.  Also, a harmless reptile.


Topic: Brabantine
Definition:
BRABANT'INE, a.  Pertaining to Brabant, a province of the Netherlands, of which Brussels is the capital.


Topic: Brabble
Definition:
BRAB'BLE, n.  A broil; a clamorous contest; a wrangle.
BRAB'BLE, v.i.  To clamor; to contest noisily.


Topic: Brace
Definition:
BRACE, n.  [L. brachium;  Gr. the arm.]
1.  In architecture, a piece of timber framed in with bevel joints, to keep the building from swerving either way. It extends like an arm from the post or main timber.
2.  That which holds any thing tight; a cincture or bandage.  The braces of a drum are not bands.
3.  A pair; a couple; as a brace of ducks.  It is used of persons only in contempt, or in the style of drollery.
4.  In music, a double curve at the beginning of stave.
5.  A thick strap, which supports a carriage on wheels.
6.  A crooked line in printing, connecting two or more words or lines; thus boll, bowl.  It is used to connect triplets in poetry.
7.  In marine language, a rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, to square or traverse the yard.  The name is given also to pieces of iron which are used as supports; such as of the poop lanterns, &c.
8.  Brace, or brasse,is a foreign measure answering to our fathom.
9. Harness; warlike preparation; as we say, girded for battle.
    10. Tension; tightness.
    11. Braces, plu., suspenders, the straps that sustain pantaloons, &c.
    12. The braces of a drum, are the cords on the sides of it, for tightening the heads and snares.
BRACE, v.t.  To draw tight; to tighten; to bind or tie close; to make tight and firm.
1.  To make tense; to strain up; as, to brace a drum.
2.  To furnish with braces; as, to brace a building.
3.  To strengthen; to increase tension; as, to brace the nerves.
4.  In marine language, to bring the yards to either side.
 To brace about is to turn the yards round for the contrary tack.
 To brace sharp is to cause the yards to have the smallest possible angle with the keel.
 To brace to is to check or ease off the leg braces, and round-in the weather ones, to assist in tacking.


Topic: Bracelet
Definition:
BRA'CELET, n.
1.  An ornament for the wrist, worn by ladies.  This ornament seems anciently to have been worn by men as well as women.
2. A piece of defensive armor for the arm.


Topic: Bracer
Definition:
BRA'CER, n.  That which braces, binds or makes firm; a band or bandage; also, armor for the arm.
1.  An astringent medicine, which gives tension or tone to any part of the body.


Topic: Brachial
Definition:
BRACH'IAL, a.  [L. brachium, form the Celtic braic, brac, the arm.]
Belonging to the arm; as the brachial artery.


Topic: Brachiate
Definition:
BRACH'IATE, a.  [See Brachial.]  In botany, having branches in pairs, decussated, all nearly horizontal, and each pair at right angles with the next.


Topic: Brachygraphy
Definition:
BRACHYG'RAPHY, n.  [Gr. short, and a writing.]  The art or practice of writing in shorthand; stenography.


Topic: Brachylogy
Definition:
BRACHYL'OGY, n.  [Gr. short, and expression.]  In rhetoric, the expressing of any thing in the most concise manner.


Topic: Bracket
Definition:
BRACK'ET, [Heb. to bend the knee; hence it signifies the knee.]
1.  Among workers in timber, an angular wooden stay, in form of the knee bent, to support shelves, scaffolds and the like.
2.  The cheek of a mortar carriage, made of strong plank.
3.  In printing, hooks; thus, [].


Topic: Brackish
Definition:
BRACK'ISH, a.  [Gr. to water.]  Salt, or salt in a moderate degree; it is applied to any water partially saturated with salt.


Topic: Bracte
Definition:
BRACTE, n. [L. Ainswroth writes, bractea or brattea.]
In botany, a floral leaf, one of the seven fulcrums or props of plants.  It differs from other leaves in shape and color, and is generally situated on the peduncle, so near the corol, as easily to be mistaken for the calyx.
In the Asiatic Researches, 4.354, this word is anglicized, and written bract.


Topic: Brad
Definition:
BRAD, in Sax., is broad, and occurs in names; as in Bradford, broadford.
BRAD, n.  A particular kind of nail,used in floors and other work, where it is deemed proper to drive nails entirely into the wood. For this purpose, it is made without a broad head or shoulder over the shank.


Topic: Brag
Definition:
BRAG, v.i.  [Eng. to brag.]
To boast; to display one's actions, merits or advantages ostentatiously; to tell boastful stories; followed by of; as, to brag of a good horse, or of a feat.
To brag on is vulgar; indeed the word itself is become low, and is not to be used in elegant composition.
BRAG, n.  A boast, or boasting; ostentatious verbal display of one's deeds, or advantages; the thing boasted.
Spenser has used this word as an adverb for proudly.
BRAG, n.  A game at cards.


Topic: Braggart
Definition:
BRAG'GART, n.  [brag and art, ard,kind.]  A boaster; a vain fellow.
BRAG'GART, a.  Boastful; vainly ostentatious.


Topic: Brahma
Definition:
BRAH'MA, n.  [L. primus.]  The chief deity of the Indian nations, considered as the creator of all things.


Topic: Brahmin
Definition:
BRAH'MIN, n. [See Brachman.]
A priest among the Hindoos and other nations of India. There are several orders of Bramins, many of whom are very corrupt in their morals; others live sequestered from the world devoted to superstition and indolence. They are the only persons who understand the Sanscrit, or ancient language of the country, in which their sacred  books are written; and to them are European nations indebted for their knowledge of the language.  They worship Brama, the supposed creator of the world, but have many subordinate deities.


Topic: Braid
Definition:
BRAID, v.t.  [Old Eng. brede.]  
1.  To weave or infold three or more strands to form one.
2.  To reproach.  [See Upbraid.]
BRAID, n.  A string, cord or other texture, formed by weaving together different strands.
1.  A start.


Topic: Brail
Definition:
BRAIL, n.
1.  A piece of leather to bind up a hawk's wing.
2.  In navigation, brails are ropes passing through pulleys,on the mizen mast and yard, and fastened to the aftmost leech of the sail in different places, to truss it up close.  Also, all ropes employed to haul up the bottoms, lower corners and skirts of the other great sails, for the more ready furling of them.
BRAIL, v.t.  To brail up, is to haul up into the brails, or to truss up with the brails.


Topic: Brain
Definition:
BRAIN, n.  [Gr. properly the fore part of the head or sinciput, also the brain.]
1.  That soft whitish mass,or viscus,inclosed in the cranium or skull, in which the nerves and spinal marrow terminate, and which is supposed to be the seat of the soul or intelligent principle in man.  It is divided above into a right and left hemisphere, and below into six lobes.  It is composed of a cortical substance, which is external, and a medullary, which is internal.  From the brain proceed nine pair of nerves, which are distributed principally to the head and neck.
2.  The understanding.
3.  The affections; fancy; imagination.  [Unusual.]
BRAIN, v.t. To dash out the brains; to kill by beating out the brains.
1.  To conceive; to understand.  [Not used.]


Topic: Brake
Definition:
BRAKE, pp.  of break.  [See Break.]
BRAKE, n.  [L. erica; Gr. to break.]
1.  Brake is a name given to fern, or rather to the female fern, a species of cryptogamian plants, of the genus Pteris, whose fructification is in lines under the margin of the leaf or frond.
2.  A place overgrown with brake.
3.  A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles.
4. In the U. States, a thicket of canes, as a cane-brake; but I believe used only in composition.
BRAKE, n.  [See Break.]  An instrument to break flax or hemp.
1.  The handle or lever by which a pump is worked; that is, brac, brachium, an arm.
2.  A baker's kneading trough.
3.  A sharp bit, or snaffle.
4.  A machine for confining refractory horses, while the smith is shoeing them.
5.  That part of the carriage of a movable battery or engine which enables it to turn.
6.  A large heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; called also a drag.


Topic: Bramble
Definition:
BRAM'BLE, n.  The raspberry bush or blackberry bush; a general name of the genus rubus, of which there are several species. They are armed with prickles; hence in common language, any rough, prickly shrub.


Topic: Bramin
Definition:
BRAM'IN  , n.  An ancient philosopher of India.  The brachmans are a branch of the ancient gymnosophists, and remarkable for the severity of their lives and manners.


Topic: Bran
Definition:
BRAN, n.  The outer coat of wheat, rye or other farinaceous grain, separated from the flour by grinding.


Topic: Branch
Definition:
BR'ANCH, n.
1.  The shoot of a tree or other plant; a limb; a bough shooting from the stem, or from another branch or bough.  Johnson restricts the word to a shoot from a main bough; but the definition warranted neither by etymology nor usage.
A division of a main stem, supporting the leaves and fructification.
An arm of a tree sprouting from the stem.
 2.  Any arm or extended part shooting or extended from the main body of a thing; as the branch of a candlestick or of an artery.  Hence, from similitude, a smaller stream running into a large one,or proceeding from it.  Also, the shoot of a stag's horn; an antler.
3. Any member or part of a body, or system; a distinct article; a section or subdivision; as, charity is a branch of christian duty.
4.  Any individual of a family descending in a collateral line; any descendant from a common parent or stock.
5. Branches of a bridle, two pieces of bent iron which bear the bit, the cross chains and the curb.
6.  In architecture, branches of ogives are the arches of Gothic vaults, traversing from one angle to another diagonally, and forming a cross between the other arches, which make the sides of the square, of which these arches are diagonals.
7.  A warrant or commission given to a pilot.
8.  A chandelier.
BR'ANCH, v.i.  To shoot or spread in branches; to ramify, as a plant, or as horns.
1.  To divide into separate parts, or subdivisions, as a mountain, a stream, or a moral subject; to ramify.
2.  To speak diffusively; to make many distinctions or divisions in a discourse.
3.  To have horns shooting out.
BR'ANCH, v.t.  To divide as into branches; to make subordinate divisions.
1.  To adorn with needle work, representing branches, flowers, or twigs.


Topic: Branched
Definition:
BR'ANCHED, pp.  Divided or spread into branches; separated into subordinate parts; adorned with branches; furnished with branches.


Topic: Brancher
Definition:
BR'ANCHER, n.  One that shoots forth branches.
1.  A young hawk when it begins to leave the nest and take to the branches.


Topic: Branching
Definition:
BR'ANCHING, ppr. Shooting in branches; dividing into several subordinate parts.
BR'ANCHING,a.  Furnished with branches; shooting out branches.


Topic: Branchiostegous
Definition:
BRANCHIOS'TEGOUS, a.  [Gr. gills, and a covering.]
Having gill-covers, or covered gills, as a branchiostegous fish; covering the gills, as the branchiostegous membrane. The branchiostegi are an order of fish in the Linnean system, the rays of whose fins are bony,but whose gill-covers are destitute of bony rays.


Topic: Brand
Definition:
BRAND, n.  
1.  A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt, whether burning or after the fire is extinct.
2. A sword, either from brandishing, or from its glittering brightness; now obsolete,unless in poetry.
3.  A thunder-bolt.
4.  A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a criminal, or upon a cask; a stigma; any note of infamy.
BRAND, v.t.  To burn or impress a mark with a hot iron; as, to brand a criminal, by way of punishment; or to brand a cask or any thing else, for the purpose of fixing a mark upon it.
1.  To fix a mark or character of infamy, in allusion to the branding of criminals; to stigmatize as infamous; as, to brand a vice with infamy.


Topic: Brandish
Definition:
BRAND'ISH, v.t.
1.  To move or wave, as a weapon; to raise, and move in various directions; to shake or flourish; as, to brandish a sword or a cane.  It often indicates threatening.
2.  To play with; to flourish; as, to brandish syllogisms.


Topic: Brandy
Definition:
BRAN'DY, n.  An ardent spirit distilled from wine. The same name is now given to spirit distilled from other liquors, and in the U. States particularly to that which is distilled from cyder and peaches.


Topic: Brangle
Definition:
BRAN'GLE, n.  [L. frendeo.]  A wrangle; a squabble; a noisy contest or dispute.
BRAN'GLE, v.i.  To wrangle; to dispute contentiously; to squabble.


Topic: Brank
Definition:
BRANK, n.  
1. Buckwheat, a species of polygonum; a grain cultivated mostly for beasts and poultry; but in the U. States, the flour is much used for making breakfast cakes.
2.  In some parts of England and Scotland, a scolding-bridle, an instrument for correcting scolding women.  It consists of a headpiece, which incloses the head of the offender, and of a sharp iron which enters the mouth and restrains the tongue.


Topic: Brankursine
Definition:
BRANK'URSINE, n.  [brank and ursus, a bear.]
Bear's-breech, or acanthus, a genus of plants of several species.  The leaves of the common sort are said to have furnished the model of the Corinthian capitals.


Topic: Branlin
Definition:
BRAN'LIN, n.  A species of fish of the salmon kind, in some places called the fingry, from five or six black lines or marks on each side resembling fingers.  It is found in rapid streams.


Topic: Brass
Definition:
BR'ASS, n.
1.  An alloy of copper and zink,of a yellow color; usually containing about one third of its weight of zink, but the proportions are variable. The best brass is made by cementation of calamine or the oxyd of zink with granulated copper.
2.  Impudence; a brazen face.


Topic: Brassy
Definition:
BR'ASSY, a.  Pertaining to brass; partaking of brass; hard as brass; having the color of brass.
1.  Impudent; impudently bold.


Topic: Brave
Definition:
BRAVE, a.  
1.  Courageous; bold; daring; intrepid; fearless of danger; as a brave warrior. It usually unites the sense of courage with generosity and dignity of mind; qualities often united.
The brave man will not deliberately do an injury to his fellow man.
2.  Gallant; lofty; graceful; having a noble mien.
3.  Magnificent; grand; as a brave place.
4.  Excellent; noble; dignified.  But in modern usage, it has nearly lost its application to things.
5.  Gaudy; showy in dress.
BRAVE, n.  A hector; a man daring beyond discretion or decency.
Hot braves like these may fight.
1.  A boast; a challenge; a defiance.
BRAVE, v.t.  To defy; to challenge; to encounter with courage and fortitude, or without being moved; to set at defiance.
The ills of love I can brave.
The rock that braves the tempest.
1.  To carry a boasting appearance of; as, to brave that which they believe not.


Topic: Bravely
Definition:
BRA'VELY, adv.  Courageously; gallantly; splendidly; in a brave manner; heroically.  In Spenser,finely; gaudily.


Topic: Bravery
Definition:
BRA'VERY, n.  Courage; heroism; undaunted spirit; intrepidity; gallantry; fearlessness of danger; often united with generosity or dignity of mind which despises meanness and cruelty, and disdains to take advantage of a vanquished enemy.
The duelist, in proving his bravery, shows that he thinks it suspected.
1.  Splendor; magnificence; showy appearance.
The bravery of their tinkling ornaments.  Is.3.
2.  Show; ostentation; fine dress.
3.  Bravado; boast.
4.  A showy person.
[In the last four senses, this word is nearly antiquated.]


Topic: Brawl
Definition:
BRAWL, v.i. [L. proelior.]
1.  To quarrel noisily and indecently.
2.  To speak loud and indecently.
3.  To roar as water; to make a noise.
BRAWL, v.t.  To drive or beat away.
BRAWL, n.  Noise; quarrel; scurrility; uproar.
1. Formerly, a kind of dance.


Topic: Brawn
Definition:
BRAWN, n.  [L. aprugnus, caro aprugna.]
1.  The flesh of a boar, or the animal.
2.  The fleshy, protuberant, muscular part of the body.
3. Bulk; muscular strength.
4.  The arm, from its muscles or strength.


Topic: Bray
Definition:
BRAY, v.t.  
1.  To pound, beat or grind small; as, to bray a fool in a mortar.  Prov.27.
2.  To make a harsh sound, as of an ass.
3.  To make a harsh,disagreeable grating sound.
BRAY, n.  The harsh sound or roar of an ass; a harsh grating sound.
1.  Shelving ground.
BRAY, n.  A bank or mound of earth.


Topic: Brazen
Definition:
BRA'ZEN, a.  brazn. Made of brass; as a brazen helmet.
1.  Pertaining to brass; proceeding from brass; as a brazen din.
2.  Impudent; having a front like brass.
 Brazen age, or age of brass, in mythology, the age which succeeded the silver age,when men had degenerated from primitive purity.
 Brazen dish, among miners, is the standard by which other dishes are gauged, and is kept in the king's hall.
 Brazen sea, in Jewish antiquity, a huge vessel of brass, cast on the plain of Jordan, and placed in Solomon's temple.  It was ten cubits from brim to brim, five in height, thirty in circumference, and contained 3000 baths.  It was designed for the priests to wash themselves in, before they performed the service of the temple.
BRA'ZEN, v.i.  brazn. To be impudent; to bully.


Topic: Brazenness
Definition:
BRA'ZENNESS, n. Appearance like brass. In this sense, brassiness is the more correct word.
1.  Impudence; excess of assurance.


Topic: Breach
Definition:
BREACH, n.
1.  The act of breaking; or state of being broken; a rupture; a break; a gap; the space between the severed parts of a solid body parted by violence; as a breach in a garment, or in a wall.
2.  The violation of a law; the violation or non-fulfillment of a contract; the non-performance of a moral duty; non-performance of duty being a breach of obligation, as well as a positive transgression or violation.
Every breach of the public engagements is hurtful to public credit.
3. An opening in a coast. [Not usual.]
4.  Separation between friends by means of enmity; difference; quarrel.
5.  Infraction; injury; invasion; as a breach upon kingly power.
6. Bereavement; loss of a friend and its consequent affliction.
7.  A violation of the public peace, as by a riot, affray, or any tumult which is contrary to law, and destructive to the public tranquillity, is called a breach of the peace.
BREACH, v.t.  To make a breach, or opening.


Topic: Bread
Definition:
BREAD, n.  bred.  [Gr. anything esculent.  If the word signifies food in general, or that which is eaten, probably it is the Heb. and Ch., from barah, to eat or feed.]
1.  A mass of dough, made by moistening and kneading the flour or meal of some species of grain, and baked in an oven, or pan.
2.  Food in general.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.
Gen.3.
Give us this day our daily bread. Lord's Prayer.
3.  Support of like in general; maintenance.
Is the reward of virtue, bread?
Bee-bread. [See Bee.]
Ship-bread, bread for ships; hard biscuits.
Cassada-bread. [See Cassada.]
BREAD, v.t.  To spread.  [Not used.]


Topic: Breadth
Definition:
BREADTH, n.  bredth.  The measure or extent of any plain surface from side to side; a geometrical dimension, which,multiplied into the length, constitutes a surface; as,the length of a table is five feet, and the breadth, three; 5x3=15 feet, the whole surface.


Topic: Break
Definition:
BREAK, v.t.  pret. broke, [brake.obs.] pp. broke or broken.
[L. frango, fregi, n casual; Heb.to break, to free or deliver, to separate.]
1.  To part or divide by force and violence, as a solid substance; to rend apart; as, to break a band; to break a thread or a cable.
2. To burst or open by force.
The fountains of the earth were broke open.
3.  To divide by piercing or penetrating; to burst forth; as, the light breaks through the clouds.
4.  To make breaches or gaps by battering, as in a wall.
5.  To destroy, crush, weaken, or impair, as the human body or constitution.
6. To sink; to appall or subdue; as, to break the spirits, or the passions.
7.  To crush; to shatter; to dissipate the strength of, as of an army.
8.  To weaken, or impair, as the faculties.
9.  To tame; to train to obedience; to make tractable; as, to break a horse.
    10. To make bankrupt.
    11. To discard, dismiss or cashier; as, to break an officer.
    12. To crack, to part or divide, as the skin; to open, as an aposteme.
    13. To violate, as a contract or promise, either by a positive act contrary to the promise, or by neglect or non-fulfillment.
    14. To infringe or violate, as a law, or any moral obligation, either by a positive act or by an omission of what is required.
    15. To stop; to interrupt; to cause to cease; as, to break conversation; to break sleep.
    16. To intercept; to check; to lessen the force of; as, to break a fall, or a blow.
    17. To separate; to part; as, to break company of friendship.
    18. To dissolve any union; sometimes with off; as, to break off a connection.
    19. To cause to abandon; to reform or cause to reform; as, to break one of ill habits or practices.
    20. To open as a purpose; to propound something new; to make a first disclosure of opinions; as, to break one's mind.
    21. To frustrate; to prevent.
If plagues or earthquakes break not heaven's design.
   22. To take away; as, to break the whole staff of bread. Ps. 105.
    23. To stretch; to strain; to rack; as, to break one on the wheel.
To break the back, to strain or dislocate the vertebers with too heavy a burden; also, to disable one's fortune.
To break bulk, to begin to unload.
To break a deer, to cut it up at table.
To breakfast, to eat the first meal in the day, but used as a compound word.
To break ground, to plow.
To break ground, to dig; to open trenches.
To break the heart, to afflict grievously; to cause great sorrow or grief; to depress with sorrow or despair.
To break a jest, to utter a jest unexpected.
To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.
To break off, to put a sudden stop to; to interrupt; to discontinue.
Break off thy sins by righteousness. Dan.4.
1.  To sever; to divide; as, to break off a twig.
To break sheer, in marine language.  When a ship at anchor is in a position to keep clear of the anchor, but is forced by wind or current out of that position,she breaks her sheer.
To break up, to dissolve or put an end to; as, to break up house-keeping.
1.  To open or lay open; as, to break up a bed of earth.
2.  To plow ground the first time, or after lying long unplowed; a common use in the U. States.
3.  To separate; as, to break up a company.
4.  To disband; as, to break up an army.
To break upon the wheel, to stretch and break the bones by torture upon the wheel.
To break wind, to give vent to wind from the body backward.
BREAK, v.i.  To part; to separate;to divide in two; as, the ice breaks; a band breaks.
1.  To burst; as, a storm or deluge breaks.
2.  To burst, by dashing against something; as, a wave breaks upon a rock.
3.  To open, as a tumor or aposteme.
4.  To open, as the morning; to show the first light; to dawn.
5.  To burst forth; to utter or exclaim.
6.  To fail in trade or other occupation; to become bankrupt.
7.  To decline in health and strength; to begin to lose the natural vigor.
8.  To issue out with vehemence.
9.  To make way with violence or suddenness; to rush; often with a particle; as, to break in; to break in upon, as calamities; to break over, as a flood; to break out, as a fire; to break forth, as light or a sound.
    10. To come to an explanation.
I am to break with thee upon some affairs.  [I believe, antiquated.]
    11. To suffer an interruption of friendship; to fall out.
Be not afraid to break with traitors.
    12. To faint, flag or pant.
My soul breaketh for longing to thy judgments. Ps.119.
To break away, to disengage itself from; to rush from; also, to dissolve itself or dissipate, as fog or clouds.
To break forth, to issue out.
To break from, to disengage from; to depart abruptly, or with vehemence.
To break in, to enter by force; to enter unexpectedly; to intrude.
To break loose, to get free by force; to escape from confinement by violence; to shake off restraint.
To break off, to part; to divide; also, to desist suddenly.
To break off from, to part from with violence.
To break out, to issue forth; to discover itself by its effects, to arise or spring up; as, a fire breaks out; a sedition breaks out; a fever breaks out.
1.  To appear in eruptions, as pustules; to have pustules, or an efflorescence on the skin, as a child breaks out.  Hence we have freckle from the root of break.
2.  To throw off restraint, and become dissolute.
To break up, to dissolve itself and separate; as a company breaks up; a meeting breaks up; a fog breaks up; but more generally we say, fog, mist or clouds break away.
To break with, to part in enmity; to cease to be friends; as, to break with a friend or companion.
This verb carries with it its primitive sense of straining, parting, severing, bursting, often with violence, with the consequential senses of injury, defect and infirmity.
BREAK, n.  A state of being open, or the act of separating; an opening made by force; an open place.  It is the same word as brack, differently written and pronounced.
1.  A pause; an interruption.
2.  A line in writing or printing, noting a suspension of the sense, or a stop in the sentence.
3. In a ship, the break of the deck is the part where it terminates, and the descent on to the next deck below commences.
4. The first appearance of light in the morning; the dawn; as the break of day.


Topic: Breaker
Definition:
BREAKER, n.  The person who breaks any thing; a violator or transgressor; as a breaker of the law.
1.  A rock which breaks the waves; or the wave itself which breaks the waves; or the wave itself which breaks against a rock, a sand bank, or the shore, exhibiting a white foam.
2.  A pier, mound or other solid matter, placed in a river, to break the floating ice, and prevent it from injuring a bridge below; called also ice-breaker.
3.  One that breaks up ground.
4.  A destroyer.  Micah 2.


Topic: Breakfast
Definition:
BREAK'FAST, n.  brek'fast. [break and fast.]
1.  The first meal in the day; or the thing eaten at the first meal.
2. A meal, or food in general.
BREAK'FAST, v.i. brek'fast.  To eat the first meal in the day.


Topic: Breakfasting
Definition:
BREAK'FASTING, ppr.  Eating or taking the first meal in the day.
BREAK'FASTING, n. A party at breakfast.


Topic: Breakpromise
Definition:
BREAKPROMISE, n.  [break and promise.]  One who makes a practice of breaking his promise. [Not used.]


Topic: Breakwater
Definition:
BREAKWATER, n.  [break and water.]  The hull of an old vessel sunk at the entrance of a harbor, to break or diminish the force of the waves, to secure the vessels in harbor.
1.  A small buoy fastened to a large one, when the rope of the latter is not long enough to reach the surface of the water.
2.  A mole, at the mouth of a harbor, intended to break the force of the waves.


Topic: Bream
Definition:
BREAM, n.  A fish, the Cyprinus brama, an inhabitant of lakes and deep water, extremely insipid and little valued.


Topic: Breast
Definition:
BREAST, n.  brest.  
1.  The soft, protuberant body, adhering to the thorax, which, in females, furnishes milk for infants.
His breasts are full of milk. Job.21.24.
2.  The fore part of the thorax, or the fore part of the human body between the neck and the belly.
3.  The part of a breast which answers to the breast in man. This, in quadrupeds, is between the fore legs, below the neck.
4.  Figuratively, the heart; the conscience; the disposition of the mind; the affections;the seat of the affections and passions.
5.  Formerly,the power of singing.
BREAST, v.t. brest.  To meet in front; to oppose breast to breast.


Topic: Breast-work
Definition:
BREAST'-WORK, n.  [breast and work.]  In fortification, a work thrown up for defense; a parapet, which see.


Topic: Breasthook
Definition:
BREAST'HOOK, n. [breast and high.]  A thick piece of timber placed directly across the stem of a ship to strengthen the fore part and unite the bows on each side.


Topic: Breastplate
Definition:
BREAST'PLATE, n. [breast and plate.]  
1.  Armor for the breast.
2.  A strap that runs across a horse's breast.
3.  In Jewish antiquity, a part of the vestment of the high priest, consisting of a folded piece of the rich embroidered stuff of which the ephod was made.  It was set with twelve precious stones, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes.


Topic: Breastrope
Definition:
BREAST'ROPE,n.  [breast and rope.]  In a ship, breast ropes are used to fasten the yards to the parrels, and with the parrels, to hold the yards fast to the mast; now called parrel ropes.


Topic: Breath
Definition:
BREATH, n.  breth.
1.  The air inhaled and expelled in the respiration of animals.
2.  Life.
No man has more contempt than I of breath.
3.  The state or power of breathing freely; opposed to a state of exhaustion from violent action; as, I am out of breath; I am scarce in breath.
4.  Respite; pause; time to breathe; as,let me take breath; give me some breath.
5.  Breeze; aid in gentle motion.
Calm and unruffled as a summer's sea,
When not a breath of wind flies o'er its surface.
6.  A single respiration; as, he swears at every breath.
7.  An instant; the time of a single respiration; a single act.
He smiles and he frowns in a breath.
8.  A word.
A breath can make them, as a breath has made.


Topic: Breathe
Definition:
BREATHE, v.i.  To respire; to inspire and expire air.  Hence, to live.
1.  To take breath; to rest from action; as, let them have time to breathe.
2.  To pass as air.
To whose foul mouth no wholesome air breathes in.
BREATHE, v.t.  To inhale as air into the lungs and expel it; as, to breathe vital air.
1. To inject by breathing; to infuse; followed by into.
And the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Gen.2.
2.  To expire; to eject by breathing; followed by out; as, to breathe out threatening and slaughter.
3. To exercise; to keep in breath.
The greyhounds are as swift as brethed stage.
4. To inspire or blow into; to cause to sound by breathing; as, to breathe the flute.
5.  To exhale; to emit as breath; as, the flowers breathe odors or perfume.
6.  To utter softly or in private; as, to breathe a vow.
7.  To give air or vent to; to open; as, to breathe a vein.
8.  To express; to manifest.
Other articles breathe the same severe spirit.


Topic: Breather
Definition:
BRE'ATHER, n.  One that breathes or lives; one that utters; an inspirer, one who animates or infuses by inspiration.


Topic: Breathing
Definition:
BRE'ATHING, ppr. Respiring; living; uttering.
1.  Exhibiting to the life; as breathing paint.
BRE'ATHING, n.  Respiration; the act of inhaling and exhaling air.
1.  Aspiration; secret prayer.
2.  Breathing-place; vent.
3.  Accent; aspiration.
BRE'ATHING-PLACE, n.  A pause.
1.  A vent.


Topic: Breathless
Definition:
BREATH'LESS, a.  breth'less.  Being out of breath; spent with labor or violent action.
1.  Dead; as a breathless body.


Topic: Breccia
Definition:
BREC'CIA, n.  In mineralogy, an aggregate composed of angular fragments of the same mineral, or of different minerals, united by a cement, and presenting a variety of colors.  Sometimes a few of the fragments are a little rounded.  The varieties are the siliceous, calcarious and trap breccias.
When rounded stones and angular fragments are united by a cement, the aggregate is usually called coarse conglomerate.


Topic: Brechite
Definition:
BRECH'ITE, n.  A fossil allied to the Alcyons.  It is cylindrical, striated,and its thick end conical, pierced with holes and crested.


Topic: Breech
Definition:
BREECH, n.  brich.  [See Breach and Break.]  The lower part of the body behind.
1.  Breeches; but rarely used in the singular.
2.  The hinder part of any thing.
BREECH, v.t.  To put into breeches.
1.  To whip on the breech.
2.  See Britch.


Topic: Breeches
Definition:
BREECHES, n.  plu. brich'es. [Low L. braccoe.]
A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs.  It is now a close garment; but the word formerly was used for a loose garment, now called trowsers, laxoe braccoe.
To wear the breeches is, in the wife, to usurp the authority of the husband.


Topic: Breeching
Definition:
BREECHING, ppr.  brich'ing.  Furnishing with breeches, or with a breech.  [See Britch.]
1.  Whipping the breech; and as a noun, a whipping.
BREECHING, in gunnery on board of ships.  [Bee Britching.]


Topic: Breed
Definition:
BREED, v.t.  pret. and pp. bred.
1.  To generate; to engender; to hatch; to produce the young of any species of animals.  I think it is never used of plants, and in animals is always applied to the mother or dam.
2.  To produce within or upon the body; as, to breed teeth; to breed worms.
3.  To cause; to occasion; to produce; to originate.
Intemperance and lust breed infirmities.
Ambition breeds factions.
4.  To contrive; to hatch; to produce by plotting.
Had he a heart and a brain to breed it in?
5.  To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds a race of stout men.
     6. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; often, but unnecessarily, followed by up; as, to breed a son to an occupation; a man bred at a university. To breed up is vulgar.
7.  To bring up; to nurse and foster; to take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to provide for, train and conduct; to instruct the mind and form the manners in youth.
To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed.
BREED, v.i.  To produce, as a fetus; to bear and nourish, as in pregnancy; as, a female breeds with pain.
1.  To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, as young before birth; as,children or young breed in the matrix.
2.  To have birth; to be produced; as, fish breed in rivers.
3.  To be increased by a new production.
But could youth last and love still breed.
4.  To raise a breed; as, to choose the best species of swine to breed from.
BREED, n.  A race or progeny from the same parents or stock.
1. A cast; a kind; a race of men or other animals, which have an alliance by nativity, or some distinctive qualities in common; as a breed of men in a particular country; a breed of horses or sheep.  Applied to men, it is not elegant.  We use race.
2.  Progeny; offspring; applied to other things than animals.
3.  A number produced at once, a hatch; a brood; but for this, brood is generally used.


Topic: Breeder
Definition:
BREE'DER, n.  The female that breeds or produces, whether human or other animal.
1.  The person who educates or brings up; that which brings up.
Italy and Rome have been the best breeders of worthy men.
2.  That which produces.
Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
3.  One who raises a breed; one who takes care to raise a particular breed, or breeds, as of horses or cattle.


Topic: Breeding
Definition:
BREE'DING, ppr.  Bearing and nourishing, as a fetus; engendering; producing; educating.
BREE'DING, n.  The act of generating or of producing.
1.  The raising of a breed or breeds; as, the farmer attends to the breeding of sheep.
2.  Nurture; education; instruction; formation of manners.
She had her breeding at my father's charge.
3.  By way of eminence, manners; knowledge of ceremony; deportment or behavior in the external offices and decorums of social life.  Hence good breeding is politeness, or the qualifications which constitute genteel deportment.


Topic: Breeze
Definition:
BREEZE, n.  A genus of flies or insects, technically called Tabanus. There are many species,but the most noted is the bovinus, great horsefly, whose mouth is armed with two hooks which penetrate the skin of an animal, while with a proboscis, like a sting, it sucks the blood.
BREEZE, n.  [Gr. to boil.]
1.  A light wind; a gentle gale.
From land a gentle breeze arose at night.
2.  A shifting wind, that blows from the sea or from the land, for a certain time, by night or by day.  Such breezes are common in the tropical regions, and in a good degree regular.  The wind from the sea is called a sea breeze, and that from the land, a land breeze. In general, the sea breeze blows in the day time, and the land breeze at night.  The like breezes are common, in the summer months, in the temperate latitudes.
BREEZE, v.i.  To blow gently; a word common among seamen.
For now the breathing airs, from ocean born,
Breeze up the bay, and lead the lively morn.


Topic: Breezy
Definition:
BREE'ZY, a.  Fanned with gentle winds or breezes; as the breezy shore.
1.  Subject to frequent breezes.


Topic: Brehon
Definition:
BRE'HON, n.  In Irish, a judge.  In ancient times, the general laws of Ireland were called Brehon laws, unwritten like the common law of England.  These laws were abolished by statute of Edward III.


Topic: Breislakite
Definition:
BRE'ISLAKITE, n. A newly discovered Vesuvian mineral, resembling a brownish or reddish brown down,which lines the small bubbles found in the lava of Scalla, and is found in cavities of the lava of Olebano; names from Breislak, a celebrated Italian naturalist.


Topic: Brennage
Definition:
BREN'NAGE, n.  [from bran.]  In the middle ages, a tribute or composition which tenants paid to their lord, in lieu of bran which they were obliged to furnish for his hounds.


Topic: Brest
Definition:
BREST or BREAST, n.  In architecture, the member of a column, more usually called torus or tore.  [See Torus.]


Topic: Brethren
Definition:
BRETH'REN, n.  plu. of brother.  It is used almost exclusively in solemn and scriptural language,in the place of brothers. [See Brother.]


Topic: Breve
Definition:
BREVE,n. [L. brevis.]
1.  In music, a note or character of time, equivalent to two semibreves or four minims.  When dotted, it is equal to three semibreves.
2.  In law, a writ directed to the chancellor,judges, sheriffs or other officers,whereby a person is summoned, or attached, to answer in the king's court.
This word, in the latter sense, is more generally written brief.


Topic: Brevet
Definition:
BREVET', n.  [from breve.]  In the French customs, the grant of a favor or donation from the king, or the warrant evidencing the grant; a warrant; a brief, or commission.  More particularly, a commission given to a subaltern officer, written on parchment, without seal. 
1.  A commission to an officer which entitles him to a rank in the army above his pay.  Thus a brevit major serves as a captain and received pay as such.  Such commissions were given to the officers of the American Army at the close of the war, giving them a grade of rank above that which they had held during service.


Topic: Breviary
Definition:
BRE'VIARY, n.  [L. breviarium, from brevis, short. See 
Brief.]
1.  An abridgment; a compend; an epitome.
2.  A book containing the daily service of the Romish church.  It is composed of matins,lauds, first,third,sixth and ninth vespers,and the compline or post communion.  The Greeks also have a breviary.


Topic: Brevier
Definition:
BREVIE'R, n.  A small king of printing types, in size between bourgeois and minion.  It is much used in printing marginal notes.


Topic: Breviped
Definition:
BREV'IPED, a.  [L. brevis, short, and pes, foot.]  Having short legs, as a fowl.
BREV'IPED, n.  A fowl having short legs.


Topic: Brevity
Definition:
BREV'ITY, n.  [L. brevitas, from brevis, short.  See Brief.]
1.  Shortness; applied to time; as the brevity of human life.
2.  Shortness; conciseness; contraction into few words; applied to discourses or writings.


Topic: Brew
Definition:
BREW, v.t.  
1.  In a general sense, to boil, and mix; hence in Saxon, it signifies broth or pottage; Old. Eng. brewis.
2.  In a more restricted sense, to make beer, ale or other similar liquor from malt; or to prepare a liquor from malt and hops, and in private families, from other materials, by steeping, boiling and fermentation.
3.  To mingle.
Brew me a pottle of sack.
4.  To contrive; to plot; as, to brew mischief.
5.  To put in a state of preparation.
BREW, v.i.  To be in a state of preparation; to be mixing, forming or collecting; as, a storm brews in the west.  In this sense I do not recollect the use of the verb, in a transitive sense, and generally the participle only is used; as, a storm is brewing.
1.  To perform the business of brewing or making beer; as, she can brew, wash and bake.
BREW, n.  The mixture formed by brewing; that which is brewed.


Topic: Brewing
Definition:
BREW'ING, ppr. Preparing malt liquor.
1.  In a state of mixing, forming or preparing; as, a storm is brewing.
2.  Contriving; preparing; as, a scheme is brewing.
BREW'ING, n.  The act or process of preparing liquors from malt and hops.
1.  The quantity brewed at once.
2.  Among seamen, a collection of black clouds portending a storm.


Topic: Brewis
Definition:
BREW'IS, n.  Broth; pottage.
1.  A piece of bread soaked in boiling fat pottage, made of salted meat.


Topic: Bribe
Definition:
BRIBE, n.  
1.  A price, reward, gift or favor bestowed or promised with a view to pervert the judgment, or corrupt the conduct of a judge, witness or other person.  A bribe is a consideration given or promised to a person, to induce him to decide a cause, give testimony, or perform some act contrary to what he knows to be truth, justice or rectitude.  It is not used in a good sense, unless in familiar language.


Topic: Bribery
Definition:
BRI'BERY, n.  The act or practice of giving or taking rewards for corrupt practices; the act of paying or receiving a reward for a false judgment, or testimony, or for the performance of that which is known to be illegal, or unjust.  It is applied both to him who gives, and to him who receives the compensation, but appropriately to the giver.


Topic: Brick
Definition:
BRICK, n.  [L. imbrex, a gutter-tile, from imber, a shower, which is probably a compound, of which the last syllable is from whence.]
A mass of earth, chiefly clay, first moistened and made fine by grinding or treading, then formed into a long square in a mold, dried and baked or burnt in a kiln; used in buildings and walls.
1. A loaf shaped like a brick.
BRICK, v.t. To lay or pave with bricks.
1.  To imitate or counterfeit a brick wall on plaster,by smearing it with red ocher and making the joints with an edge-tool, filling them with fine plaster.


Topic: Brickkiln
Definition:
BRICK'KILN, n.  [brick and kiln.]  A kiln, or furnace, in which bricks are baked or burnt, or a pile of bricks,laid loose, with arches underneath to receive the wood or fuel.


Topic: Bridal
Definition:
BRI'DAL, a.  [See Bride.]  Belonging to a bride, or to a wedding; nuptial; connubial; as bridal ornaments.
BRI'DAL, n.  The nuptial festival.


Topic: Bride
Definition:
BRIDE, n.  
1.  A woman new married.
But the name is applied to a woman at the marriage festival, before she is married, as well as after the ceremony.
2.  A woman espoused, or contracted to be married.  The case of Lewellyn, prince of Wales. Henry's Hist.of Britain, B.iv.ch.i.,sect.2.  [This is the true original sense of the word.]


Topic: Bridecake
Definition:
BRI'DECAKE, n.  [bride and cake.]  The cake which is made for the guests at a wedding; called, in the U. States, wedding cake.


Topic: Bridegroom
Definition:
BRI'DEGROOM, n.  A man newly married; or a man about to be married.  The passage of Shakespeare cited by Johnson proves that the last definition is just.
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day,
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,
And summon him to marriage.
BRI'DEGROOM, n.  [See Bridegroom.]


Topic: Brideman
Definition:
BRI'DEMAN, n.  [bride and man.]  A man who attends upon a bridegroom and bride at their marriage.  I have generally heard these words pronounced bride's man and bride's maid.


Topic: Bridewell
Definition:
BRI'DEWELL, n.  A house of correction, for the confinement of disorderly persons; so called from the palace built near St. Bride's or Bridget's well, in London, which was turned into a workhouse.


Topic: Bridge
Definition:
BRIDGE, n.  
1.  Any structure of wood, stone, brick, or iron, raised over a river, pond, or lake, for the passage of men and other animals.  Among rude nations, bridges are sometimes formed of other materials; and sometimes they are formed of boats, or logs of wood lying on the water, fastened together, covered with planks, and called floating bridges.  A bridge over a marsh is made of logs or other materials laid upon the surface of the earth.
 Pendent or hanging bridges are not supported by posts, but by the peculiar structure of the frame, resting only on the abutments.
 A draw bridge is one which is made with hinges, and may be raised or opened. Such bridges are constructed in fortifications, to hinder the passage of a ditch or moat; and over rivers, that the passage of vessels need not be interrupted.
 A flying bridge is made of pontoons, light boats, hollow beams, empty casks or the like. They are made, as occasion requires, for the passage of armies.
 A flying bridge is also constructed in such a manner as to move from one side of a river to the other, being made fast in the middle of the river by a cable and an anchor.
1.  The upper part of the nose.
2.  The part of a stringed instrument of music, over which the strings are stretched, and by which they are raised.
3.  In gunnery, the two pieces of timber which go between the two transoms of a gun-carriage.
BRIDGE, v.t.  To build a bridge or bridges over; as, to bridge a river.
1.  To erect bridges on; to make a passage by a bridge or bridges.


Topic: Bridle
Definition:
BRI'DLE, n.
1. The instrument with which a horse is governed and restrained by a rider; consisting of a head-stall, a bit, and reins, with other appendages, according to its particular form and uses.
2.  A restraint; a curb; a check.
3.  A short piece of cable well served, attached to a swivel on a chain, laid in a harbor, and the upper end drawn into a ship and secured to the bits. The use is to enable a ship, when moored, to veer with the wind and tide.
Bowline bridles are short legs or pieces of rope, running through iron thimbles,by which the bowline attaches to different places on the leech or edge of a large sail
BRI'DLE,  v.t.  To put on a bridle; as, to bridle a horse.
1. To restrain, guide or govern; to check, curb or control; as, to bridle the passions; 'to bridle a muse.'
Bridle the excursions of youth.
BRI'DLE, v.i.  To hold up the head, and draw in the chin.


Topic: Bridling
Definition:
BRI'DLING, ppr. Putting on a bridle; restraining;curbing.
1. Holding up the head, and drawing in the chin.
The bridling frown of wrinkles brows.


Topic: Brief
Definition:
BRIEF, a.  [L. brevis, when brevio, so shorten abbreviate.  Brevis, in Latin, is doubtless contracted from the Gr.,whence to abridge.  The Greek word coincides in elements with break.]
Short; concise; it is used chiefly of language, discourses, writings and time; as a brief space, a brief review of a book. Shakespeare applies it to wars, to nature, &c.  A little brief authority is authority very limited.
BRIEF, n.  [In this sense the word has been received into most of the languages of Europe.]
1.  An epitome; a short or concise writing.  This is the general sense of the word, as explained by Zonaras on the council 
of Carthage.  It was thus used as early as the third century after Christ.
In modern times, an apostolical brief is a letter which the pope dispatches to a prince or other magistrate, relating to public affairs.  A brief is distinguished from a bull, in being more concise, written on paper, sealed with red wax, and impressed with the seal of the fisherman or Peter in a boat.  A bull is more ample, written on parchment, and sealed with lead or green wax.
2.  In law, an abridgment of a client's case, made out for the instruction of council on a trial at law.
Also, a writ summoning a man to answer to any action; or any precept of the king in writing, issuing from any court, whereby he commands a thing to be done.
In Scots law, a writ issuing from the chancery, directed to any judge ordinary, commanding and authorizing that judge to call a jury to inquire into the case, and upon their verdict to pronounce sentence.
3.  A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a public collection or charitable contribution of money for any public or private purpose.
4.  A writing in general.
In music, the word, if I mistake not, is now written breve.


Topic: Brier
Definition:
BRI'ER, n.
1.  In a general sense, a prickly plant or shrub.  Is.v.6. Judges 8.7.
2.  In a limited sense, the sweet-brier and the wild-brier, species of the rose.


Topic: Brig
Definition:
BRIG, the termination of names, signifies a bridge, or perhaps, in some cases, a town, or burg.
BRIG, n.  [from brigantine.]  A vessel with two masts, square rigged,or rigged nearly like a ship's mainmast and foremast.  The term, however, is variously applied by the mariners of different nations.


Topic: Brigade
Definition:
BRIGA'DE, n.  A party or division of troops, or soldiers,whether cavalry or infantry, regular or militia, commanded by a brigadier.  It consists of an indeterminate number of regiments, squadrons, of battalions.  A brigade of horse is a body of eight or ten squadrons; of infantry, four, five, or six battalions, or regiments.
BRIGA'DE, v.t.  To form into a brigade, or into brigades.


Topic: Brigade-major
Definition:
BRIGA'DE-MAJOR, n.  [See Major.]  An officer appointed by the brigadier, to assist him in the management and ordering of his brigade.


Topic: Brigadier
Definition:
BRIGADIE'R, n.  The general officer who commands a brigade, whether of horse or foot, and in rank next below a major-general.


Topic: Brigand
Definition:
BRIG'AND, n.  A robber; a free booter; a lawless fellow who lives by plunder, or who belongs to a band of robbers.


Topic: Brigandine
Definition:
BRIG'ANDINE, n.  Anciently, a coat of mail. The name has ceased to be used, with the disuse of the thing.  It consisted of thin jointed scales of plate, pliant and easy to the body.


Topic: Brigantine
Definition:
BRIG'ANTINE, n. [L. aphractum;  Gr. a vessel without a deck, uncovered.  It is usually derived from brigand.]  [See Brig.]


Topic: Bright
Definition:
BRIGHT, a.  brite.  [Heb. to shine.]
1.  Shining; lucid; luminous; splendid; as a bright sun or star; a bright metal.
2.  Clear; transparent; as liquors.
3.  Evident; clear; manifest to the mind,as light is to the eyes.
4.  Resplendent with charms; as a bright beauty; the brightest  fair.
5.  Illuminated with science; sparkling with wit; as the brightest of men.
6. Illustrious; glorious; as the brightest period of a kingdom.
7.  In popular language, ingenious; possessing an active mind.
8.  Promising good or success; as bright prospects.
9.  Sparkling; animated; as bright eyes.


Topic: Brighten
Definition:
BRIGHTEN, v.t.  britn.  To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase luster.
1.  To make luminous by light from without, or by dispelling gloom; as, to brighten sorrow or prospects.
2.  To cheer; to make gay or cheerful.
Joy brightens his crest.
3.  To make illustrious, or more distinguished; as, to brighten a character.
4.  To make acute or witty.
BRIGHTEN, v.i.  britn. To grow bright, or more bright; to clear up; as, the sky brightens.
1.  To become less dark or gloomy; as, our prospects brighten.


Topic: Brightness
Definition:
BRIGHTNESS, n.  briteness.  Splendor; luster; glitter.
1.  Acuteness, applied to the faculties; sharpness of wit; as the brightness of a man's parts.


Topic: Brigue
Definition:
BRIGUE, n.  breeg.  A cabal; intrigue; faction; contention.  [Little used.]
BRIGUE, v.i.  breeg.  To canvass; to solicit.  [Little used.]


Topic: Brilliant
Definition:
BRILL'IANT, a.  [Eng. beryl and pearl.]
1.  Sparkling with luster; glittering; as a brilliant gem; a brilliant dress.
2.  Splendid; shining; as a brilliant achievement.
Washington was more solicitous to avoid fatal mistakes,than to perform brilliant exploits.
BRILL'IANT, n.  A diamond of the finest cut, formed into angles, so as to refract the light, by which it is rendered more glittering.
1.  In the manege, a brisk,high-spirited horse,with a stately carriage.


Topic: Brim
Definition:
BRIM, n.  
1.  The rim, lip or broadborder of any vessel or other thing; as the brim of a hat, or of a vessel.
2.  The upper edge of a vessel, whether broad or not; as the brim of a cup or glass.
3.  The top of any liquor; the edge or that next the border at the top.
The feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of the water.  Josh.3.
4. The edge or brink of a fountain; the verge.
BRIM, a.  Public; well known; celebrated. [Not in use.]
BRIM, v.t.  To fill to the brim, upper edge, or top.


Topic: Brimful
Definition:
BRIM'FUL, a.  [brim and full.]  Full to the top; completely full; as a glass brimful; a heart brimful of tears.


Topic: Brimstone
Definition:
BRIM'STONE, n.  Sulphur; a hard, brittle, inflammable substance, of a lemon yellow color, which has no smell, unless heated, and which becomes negatively electric by heat and friction.  It is found, in great quantities, and sometimes pure, in the neighborhood of volcanoes.  It is an ingredient in a variety of minerals and ores.  The sulphur of commerce is procured from its natural beds, or artificially extracted from pyrites.


Topic: Brine
Definition:
BRINE, n.
1.  Water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt, like the water of the ocean.  Artificial brine is used for the preservation of the flesh of animals, fish, vegetables, &c.
2.  The ocean or sea.
3.  Tears, so called from their saltiness.
Leach brine is brine which drops from corned salt in drying, which is preserved to be boiled again.
BRINE, v.t.  To steep in brine, as corn to prevent smut; also, to mix salt with, as to brine hay.


Topic: Brine-pan
Definition:
BRI'NE-PAN, n.  [brine and pan.]  A pit of salt water, where, by the action of the sun, salt is formed by crystallization.


Topic: Brine-pit
Definition:
BRI'NE-PIT, n.  [brine and pit.]  A brine pan, or a salt spring from which water is taken to be boiled or evaporated for making salt.


Topic: Bring
Definition:
BRING, v.t.
1.  To fetch; to bear, convey or lead from a distant to a nearer place, or to a person; as, bring me a book from the shelf; bring me a morsel of bread.  In this sense, it is opposed to carry, and it is applied to the person bearing or leading, in opposition to sending or transmitting by another.
2.  To produce; to procure as a cause; to draw to.
Nothing brings a man more honor than to be invariably just.
3.  To attract or draw along.
In distillation the water brings over with it another substance.
4.  To cause to come; to cause to proceed from a distant place, in company, or at the same time; as, to bring a boat over a river; to bring a horse or carriage; to bring a cargo of dry goods.
5.  To cause to come to a point, by moral influence; used of the mind, and implying previous remoteness, aversion, alienation, or disagreement; as, to bring the mind to assent to a proposition; or to bring a man to terms, by persuasion or argument.  In this sense, it is nearly equivalent to persuade, prevail upon, or induce.  The same process is effected by custom, and other causes.  Habit brings us to relish things at first disagreeable; reflection brings a man to his senses, and whether the process is slow or rapid,the sense of the verb is the same.  To bring to the mind any thing before and forgotten, is to recall; but the sense of bring is the same.
The primary sense is to lead, draw or cause to come; the sense of conveying or bearing is secondary.
The use of this verb is so extensive, and incorporated into so many peculiar phrases, that it is not easy to reduce its significations within any precise limits.  In general, the verb bring implies motion from a place remote, either in a literal or figurative sense.  It is used with various modifying words.bring back is to recall, implying previous departure, either in a literal or figurative sense.
To bring about, to bring to pass; to effect; to accomplish; to bring to the desired issue.
To bring forth is to produce, as young or fruit; also, to bring to light; that is, to make manifest; to disclose.
To bring forward,to cause to advance; to produce to view.
To bring in, to import; to introduce; to bear from remote place within a certain precinct; to place in a particular condition; to collect things dispersed; to reduce within the limits of law and government; to produce, as income, rent or revenue; to induce to join; &c.
To bring off, to bear or convey from a distant place, as to bring off men from an isle; also, to procure to be acquitted; to clear form condemnation; to cause to escape.
To bring on, to cause to begin, as to bring on an action; also, to originate or cause to exist, as to bring on a disease; also, to bear or convey from a distance, as to bring on a quantity of goods; also, to attend, or to aid in advancing, as to bring one on his way.
To bring over, to bear across, as to bring over dispatches, to bring over passengers in a boat; also, to convert by persuasion or other means; to draw to a new party; to cause to change sides, or an opinion.
To bring out, to expose; to detect; to bring to light from concealment; as, to bring out an accomplice or his crimes.
To bring under, to subdue; to repress; to restrain; to reduce to obedience; also, to bring beneath any thing.
To bring up, to nurse; to educate; to instruct; to feed and clothe; to form the manners, and furnish the mind with knowledge.  The phrase may comprehend all these particulars.  Also, to introduce to practice, as to bring up a fashion or ceremony; also, to cause to advance near, as to bring up forces, or the body of reserve; also, to bear or convey upwards.  In navigation, to cast anchor.
To bring down, to cause to come down; also, to humble or abase, as to bring down high looks.
To bring to, in navigation, to check the course of a ship, by arranging the sails in such a manner, that they shall counteract each other, and keep her nearly stationary.  She is then said to lie to.  The phrase is used also in applying a rope to the capstan.
To bring by the lee, to incline so rapidly to leeward of the course, when a ship sails large, as to bring the lee side suddenly to the windward, and by laying the sails aback, expose her to the danger of oversetting.


Topic: Bringer
Definition:
BRING'ER, n.  One who brings, or conveys to.
Bringer in, the person who introduces.
Bringer up, an instructor; one who feeds,clothes, and educates; also, one who is in the rear of an army.


Topic: Briny
Definition:
BRI'NY, a.  [from brine.]  Pertaining to brine, or to the sea; partaking of the nature of brine; salt; as a briny taste; the briny flood.


Topic: Brisk
Definition:
BRISK, a.  [This word may be of the same family with frisk, and fresh, which see.]
1.  Lively; active; nimble; gay; sprightly; vivacious; applied to animals; as a brisk young man; a brisk cyder.
2.  Full of spirit or life; effervescing, as liquors; as brisk cyder.
3.  Lively; burning freely; as a brisk fire.
4.  Vivid; bright; as, a glass makes an object appear brisk.  [Not used.]


Topic: Brisket
Definition:
BRISK'ET, n.  The breast of an animal; or that part of the breast that lies next to the ribs. The fore part of the neck of a horse, at the shoulder down to the fore legs.


Topic: Bristle
Definition:
BRIS'TLE, n. bris'l.
1.  The stiff glossy hair of swine, especially that growing on the back, used for making brushes; similar hair on other animals.
2. A species of pubescence on plants, in form of stiff roundish hair.
BRIS'TLE, v.t.  To erect in bristles; to erect in defiance or anger, like a swine; as, to bristle the crest.
1.  To fix a bristle; as, to bristle a thread.
BRIS'TLE, v.i.  To rise or stand erect; as, the hair bristles.
1.  To raise the head and strut, as in anger or defiance; as, a man bristles up to another.  In this sense the word is common in the U. States,but generally pronounced brustle.


Topic: Bristol-stone
Definition:
BRIS'TOL-STONE, n.  Rock crystal or crystals of quartz, found in a rock near the city of Bristol in England.


Topic: Britannic
Definition:
BRITAN'NIC, a.  Pertaining to Britain; or in its present use, to Great Britain. It is applied almost exclusively to the title of the king; as his Britannic Majesty.  In the Encyclopedia, article Argo Navis, it is applied to catalogue, the Britannic catalogue.


Topic: Britch
Definition:
BRITCH, n.  The large end of a cannon or of a musket; the club or thick part of the stock of a musket or other fire arm.


Topic: Britching
Definition:
BRITCH'ING, n.  A strong rope, fastened to the cascabel or pummelion of a cannon, by a thimble, and clinched to ring bolts in the ship's side, to prevent it from recoiling too much in battle.


Topic: Brite
Definition:
BRITE, or BRIGHT, v.i.  To be or become over ripe, as wheat, barley or hops. [I know not that this word is used in the U. States.]


Topic: British
Definition:
BRIT'ISH, a.  Pertaining to Great Britain or its inhabitants. It is sometimes applied to the language of the Welsh.


Topic: Brittle
Definition:
BRIT'TLE, a. [Heb. to part, to break.  See Part.]
Easily broken or easily breaking short, without splinters or loose parts rent from the substance; fragile; not tough or tenacious; as brittle stone or glass.


Topic: Broach
Definition:
BROACH, n.  
1. A spit, and in some parts of the English dominions, an awl, and a bodkin.
2.  A musical instrument played by turning a handle.
3.  A clasp or small utensil to fasten a vest. [See Brooch.]
4.  A start of the head of a young stag.
BROACH, v.t.  
1.  To spit; to pierce as with a spit.
2.  To tap; to pierce, as a cask, in order to draw the liquor; hence, to let out.
3.  To open, as a store.  [Unusual.]
4.  To utter; to give out; to publish first; to make public what was before unknown; as, to broach an opinion.
To broach to, in navigation, to incline suddenly to windward, so as to lay the sails aback and expose the vessel to the danger of oversetting.


Topic: Broad
Definition:
BROAD, a.  brawd. [L. gradior; a root of extensive use.]
1.  Wide; extended in breadth, or from side to side, as distinguished from long, or extended from end to end.  It is opposed to narrow; as a broad street; a broad table.
2.  Wide; extensive; vast; as the broad expanse of ocean.
3.  Large; as a broad mixture of falsehood.
4.  Open; clear; not covered,confined or concealed; as in broad sunshine.
5.  Gross; coarse; as broad mirth; broad nonsense.
6.  Plain; tending to obscenity; as a broad comment.
7.  Bold; not delicate; not reserved; as broad words.
8.  Comprehensive.
It may be urged that the words in the constitution are broad enough to include the case.
Broad as long, equal upon the whole.


Topic: Broad-ax
Definition:
BROAD-AX, n.  [broad and ax.]  Formerly, a military weapon.  In modern usage, an ax for hewing timber.


Topic: Broad-cast
Definition:
BROAD-CAST, n.  [broad and cast.]  Among farmers, a casting or throwing seed from the hand for dispersion in sowing.
BROAD-CAST, adv.  By scattering or throwing at large from the hand; as, to sow broad-cast.
BROAD-CAST, a.  Cast or dispersed upon the ground with the hand, as seed in sowing; opposed to planting in hills or rows.


Topic: Broad-side
Definition:
BROAD-SIDE, n.  [broad and side.]  A discharge of all the guns on one side of a ship, above and below, at the same time.
1.  The side of a ship, above the water, from the bow to the quarter.
2. In printing, a sheet of paper containing one large page,or printed on one side only.


Topic: Brocade
Definition:
BROCA'DE, n.  Silk stuff, variegated with gold and silver, or raised and enriched with flowers, foliage and other ornaments.


Topic: Brocage
Definition:
BRO'CAGE, n.  [See Broke, Broker.]
1.  The premium or commission of a broker; the gain or profit derived from transacting business for other men, as brokers, either in a good or bad sense.
2.  The hire given for any unlawful office.
3.  The trade of a broker; a dealing in old things.
4.  The business of a broker; the transactions of commercial business, as buying and selling, for other men.  [See Broke, Broker.]
5.  The act of pimping.


Topic: Brock
Definition:
BROCK, n.  A badger; an animal of the genus Ursus, found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia.  The Russians call it barsuk.
In Ir. brech is a wolf, a wild savage and a badger.


Topic: Brocket
Definition:
BROCK'ET, n. [See Brock.] A red deer two years old.  Bailey writes this brock or brocket. The French write it brocard.


Topic: Brogue
Definition:
BROGUE, n.  brog.
1.  A shoe.  'Clouted brogues.' in Shakespeare, signify shoes whose soles are studded with nails, or clouts.
2.  A cant word for a corrupt dialect or manner of pronunciation.
3.  Brogues is used by Shenstone for breeches, from the Irish brog.


Topic: Broil
Definition:
BROIL,n.  A tumult; a noisy quarrel; contention; discord,either between individuals or in the state.
BROIL, v.t.  To agitate with heat; to dress or cook over coals, before the fire; but more generally upon a gridiron over coals.
BROIL, v.i. To be subjected to the action of heat, like meat over the fire; to be greatly heated or to sweat with heat.
Where have you been broiling?


Topic: Broke
Definition:
BROKE, v.t.  [L.  fruor, for frucor, whence fructus, fruit.  See Practice.]
To transact business for another in trade; to act as agent in buying and selling, and other commercial business; to transact business by an agent. [This word is little used, at least in America; and English writers seem to have used it in a low sense.]
BROKE, pret. and pp. of break.


Topic: Broken-backed
Definition:
BRO'KEN-BACKED, a.  A broken-backed ship is one which is so weakened in her frame as to droop at each end.


Topic: Broken-hearted
Definition:
BRO'KEN-HEARTED, a.  [break and heart.]  Having the spirits depressed or crushed by grief or despair.


Topic: Brokenwind
Definition:
BRO'KENWIND, n.  [break and wind.]  A disease in horses, often accompanied with a preternatural enlargement of the lungs and heart, which disables them from bearing fatigue.


Topic: Broker
Definition:
BRO'KER, n.  [from broke.]
1.  An agent or negotiator, who is employed by merchants to make and conclude bargains for them for a fee or rate per cent., or who transacts other business for his employers.
Brokers are of several kings.
1.  Exchange-brokers, who make and conclude bargains for others in matters of money or merchandize, learn the rate of exchange and notify their employers.
2.  Stock-brokers, who are employed to buy and sell shares in the stocks, whether of the public funds, of banks or of other corporations.
3.  Pawn-brokers, who make it their business to lend money upon pawns, that is, property deposited in pledge.
4.  Insurance-brokers,whose business is to procure the insurance of vessels at sea or bound on a voyage.
In the U. States, the business of a stockbroker and an insurance-broker is often or generally carried on by the same person.
2.  One who deals in old household goods.
3.  A pimp or procurer.


Topic: Brome
Definition:
BROME, n.  [Gr. foetor.]  A liquid of a deep red-brown color, very volatile,and having an ill smell, obtained from the mother-water of salt-works,and from the lixivia of the ashes of sea plants, by treating these solutions with chlorine.  It has three times the density of water.


Topic: Bronchial
Definition:
BRONCH'IAL, a.  [Gr. the wind-pipe.]  Belong to the bronchia, or ramifications of the wind-pipe in the lungs.
The bronchial arteries are branches of the superior descending aorta accompanying the bronchia, or branches of the trachea.
Bronchial glands, glands at the division of the bronchia.


Topic: Bronchocele
Definition:
BRONCH'OCELE, n.  [Gr. the wind-pipe, and, a tumor.]
An enlarged thyroid gland; a tumor on the fore part of the neck, called goiter; the Derbyshire neck.


Topic: Bronchotomy
Definition:
BRONCHOT'OMY, n.  [Gr. the wind-pipe, and, a cutting.]
An incision into the wind pipe or larynx, between the rings; called also tracheotomy.


Topic: Brontology
Definition:
BRONTOL'OGY, n.  [Gr. thunder, and discourse.]
A discourse or dissertation upon thunder, containing an explanation of its causes and phenomena.


Topic: Bronzing
Definition:
BRONZ'ING, ppr. Imitating bronze.
BRONZ'ING, n. The act or art of imitating bronze,by means of copper-dust or leaf.


Topic: Bronzite
Definition:
BRONZ'ITE,n.  [from bronze.] A mineral, called by Hauy diallage metalloide, nearly allied to Labrador hornblend,or hyperstene.  It has a yellowish brown color and semi-metallic luster, approaching to that of bronze.
Bronzite is regarded by Cleaveland as a subspecies of diallage.


Topic: Brooch
Definition:
BROOCH, n.  broche.
1.  An ornamental utensil for fastening the vest, or the bosom of a shirt, as formerly used in America.  It is usually made of silver, often round, with a tongue crossing its diameter, sometimes with two tongues.  It formerly was used in England, as it was in America, and is still in the highlands of Scotland.
2.  A jewel.
3.  With painters, a painting all of one color.
BROOCH, v.t.  To adorn or furnish with brooches or jewels.


Topic: Brood
Definition:
BROOD, v.i.  
1.  To sit on and cover, as a fowl on her eggs for the purpose of warming them and hatching chickens, or as a hen over her chickens, to warm and protect them.
2.  To sit on; to spread over, as with wings; as, to sit brooding over the vast abyss.
3.  To remain a long time in anxiety or solicitous thought; to have the mind uninterruptedly dwell a long time on a subject; as, the miser broods over his gold.
4.  To mature any thing with care.
BROOD, v.t.  To sit over, cover and cherish; as, a hen broods her chickens.
1.  To cherish.
You'll brood your sorrows on a throne.
BROOD, n.  Offspring; progeny; formerly used of human beings in elegant works, and we have brother, from this word; but it is now more generally used in contempt.
1.  A hatch; the young birds hatched at once; as a brood of chickens or of ducks.
2.  That which is bred; species generated; that which is produced.
Lybia's broods of poison.
3.  The act of covering the eggs, or of brooding. [Unusual.]


Topic: Brook
Definition:
BROOK, n.  [Gr. to rain, to pour, to flow.]  A small natural stream of water, or a current flowing from a spring or fountain less than a river.  In some parts of America, run is used in a like sense; but run is also applied to larger streams than brook.
BROOK, v.t. [Gr. to eat, to grind the teeth.]   Literally, to chew or digest, as the Fr. digerir. Hence,
To bear; to endure; to support; as,young men cannot brook restraint.


Topic: Broom
Definition:
BROOM,n.
1.  A plant of several species, called dyer's weed, being used by dyers to give a yellow color,dyer's broom, green wood, or wood waxen, dwarf broom, all belonging to the genus Genista. Broom rape is Orobanche, and with large purple flowers, Lathroea.
Spanish Broom is a species of Spartium, and Butcher's broom is the Ruscus.
2.  A besom, or brush with a long handle for sweeping floors; so called from being originally made of the broom-plant.  In America, brooms are made of the tops of broom-corn, or of some species of wood splintered, chiefly ash.  The latter species of broom is furnished by the natives of the country.  The original broom, made of shrubs or twigs, is still used in stables.
BROOM.  [See Bream.]


Topic: Broom-corn
Definition:
BROOM'-CORN, n.  [broom and corn.]  A species of Holcus or Guinea-corn,with a jointed stem, like a reed, or the stem of maize, rising to the highth of eight or ten feet, bearing a head of which brooms are made. Sometimes called Sorghum Saccharatum.


Topic: Broth
Definition:
BROTH, n.  brauth.
1. Liquor in which flesh is boiled and macerated,usually with rice and herbs, or some ingredient to give it a better relish.
2. In America, the word is often applied to foaming water, and especially to a mixture of snow and water in the highways which is called snow-broth.


Topic: Brothel
Definition:
BROTH'EL, n.  [A dialectical orthography of bordel, which see.]
A house of lewdness; a house appropriated to the purposes of prostitution; a bawdy house; a stew.


Topic: Brother
Definition:
BROTHER, n. plu. brothers or brethren.  [L. frater.]
1.  A human male born of the same father and mother.  A male by one of the parents only is called a half-brother, or brother of the half blood.
2.  Any one closely united; an associate; as a band of brothers.
3.  One that resembles another in manners.
He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.  Proverbs 18.
In scripture, the term brother is applied to a kinsman by blood more remote that a son of the same parents; as in the case of Abraham and Lot, Jacob and Laban.  Persons of the same profession call each other brother, as judges, clergymen, professors of religion, members of societies united in a common cause, monks and the like.
Kings give to each other the title of brother.address their congregations by the title of brethren.  In a more general sense, brother or brethren is used for man in general; all men being children of the same primitive ancestors, and forming one race of beings.
Brother-german is a brother by the father's and mother's side, in contradistinction to a uterine brother, or by the mother only.


Topic: Brotherhood
Definition:
BROTH'ERHOOD, n.  [brother and hood.]  The state or quality of being a brother.
1.  An association of men for any purpose,as a society of monks; a fraternity.
2.  A class of men of the same kind, profession, or occupation.


Topic: Brotherly
Definition:
BROTH'ERLY, a.  Pertaining to brothers; such as is natural for brothers; becoming brothers; kind; affectionate; as brotherly love.
Shakespeare uses this word as an adverb.  'I speak but brotherly.'  But the use is not authorized.


Topic: Brow
Definition:
BROW, n.  [L. palpebra..  It is probably contracted from brg,and signifies an edge,border or projection.]
1.  The prominent ridge over the eye, forming an arch above the orbit. The skin of this arch or ridge is moved by muscles, which contract it in a frown and elevate it in joy or surprise.  Hence, to know the brows, is to frown.
2.  The hair that covers the brow forming an arch, called the eye brow.
3.  The forehead.  Hence, the general air of the countenance.
4.  The edge of a steep place, as the brink of a river or precipice; as the brow of a hill.
5.  A fringe of coppice, adjoining to the hedge of a field.
BROW, v.t.  To bound; to limit; to form the edge or border of.


Topic: Browbeating
Definition:
BROW'BEATING, ppr.  Overbearing with severe brows, stern looks, or positive assertions.
BROW'BEATING, n.  A bearing down with stern looks, supercilious manners, or confident assertions.


Topic: Brown
Definition:
BROWN, a.  Dusky; of a dark or dusky color, inclining to redness; but the shades are various, as Spanish brown, London brown, clove brown, tawny brown.  Brown results from a mixture of red, black and yellow.
BROWN, v.t.  To make brown or dusky.
A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves,
Browns the dim void, and darkens deep the groves.


Topic: Brownism
Definition:
BROWN'ISM, n.  The doctrines or religious creed of the Brownists, who maintained that any body of professing Christians united under one pastor, or communing together, constitute a church independent of any other.


Topic: Brownist
Definition:
BROWN'IST, n.  A follower of Robert Brown, a puritan, or dissenter from the Church of England, who left England with his congregation and settled at Middleburgh in Zealand.  He was the head of a party of Independents in Church government.


Topic: Browse
Definition:
BROWSE, v.t.  s as z.  [Gr. to eat or browse; food, but probably these words may be from sprouts.]
To eat the ends of branches of trees and shrubs or the young shoots, as cattle, or deer.
BROWSE, v.i.  s as z.  To feed on the tender branches or shoots of shrubs and trees, as cattle,sheep and goats.
BROWSE, n.  brows.  The tender branches or twigs of trees and shrubs, fit for the food of cattle and other animals.


Topic: Brucite
Definition:
BRU'CITE, n.  A mineral, the chondrodite of Berzelius, which sometimes occurs in grains or imperfect crystals,sometimes in four-sided prisms with rhombic bases.  It is so named from the late Dr. Bruce, a distinguished mineralogist of New York.


Topic: Bruise
Definition:
BRUISE, v.t. s as z.  To crush by beating or pounding with an instrument not edged or pointed.  When applied to animal flesh or to vegetables, a bruise is a contusion that impairs the natural solidity and texture of the part, but often without breaking the skin.  When applied to minerals and similar substances, it signifies to break them, and often to reduce them to a coarse powder.
BRUISE, n.  A contusion; a hurt upon the flesh of animals, upon plants or other bodies, with a blunt or heavy instrument.


Topic: Bruiser
Definition:
BRUISER, n.  A concave tool for grinding the specula of telescopes.
1.  In vulgar language, a boxer.


Topic: Bruising
Definition:
BRUISING, ppr.  Crushing; breaking or wounding by a blunt or heavy instrument.
BRUISING, n.  In popular language, a beating or boxing.


Topic: Brunion
Definition:
BRUN'ION, n.  A sort of fruit between a plum and a peach.
Brunswick green.  An ammoniaco-muriate of copper, used for paper hangings and in oil painting.


Topic: Brunt
Definition:
BRUNT, n.  
1.  The heat, or utmost violence of an onset; the strength or violence of any contention; as the brunt of a battle.
2.  The force of a blow; violence; shock of any kind.
3.  A sudden effort.


Topic: Brush
Definition:
BRUSH, n.
1. An instrument for cleaning any thing of dust and dirt by light rubbing, as floors, furniture, boots, &c. Brushes originally were made of shrubs or small branches of trees tied together, and such are yet used for coarse purposes. But the materials most used are bristles set in wood.  Painters use a small brush to lay colors on their large pieces.  Silversmiths use a wire brush for scrubbing silver, copper or brass, in order to gilding; and there is a method of staining leather by rubbing the color on the skin with a brush.
2.  Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood; a sense common in the U. States.
3. The small trees and shrubs of a wood; or a thicket of small trees.
4.  A skirmish; a slight encounter; also, an assault; a shock, or rude treatment, from collision; as we say a scouring, a rub.
5. In electricity, the luminous appearance of electric matter issuing in diverging rays from a point.
6.  A tail; as the brush of a fox.
BRUSH, v.t.  To sweep or rub with a brush; as, to brush a hat.
1.  To strike as with a brush; to strike lightly, by passing over the surface, without injury, or impression; as, to brush the arm in passing; to brush the briny flood.
2.  To paint with a brush; hence, to brush up is often used for cleansing in general.
3.  With off, to remove by brushing, as to brush off dust; also, to carry away by an act like that of brushing, or by passing over lightly, as by wind.
4.  To move as a brush; to pass over with a light contact.
BRUSH, v.i.  To move nimbly in haste; to move so lightly as scarcely to be perceived; as, to brush by.
1.  To move or skim over,with a slight contact, or without much impression.


Topic: Brushing
Definition:
BRUSH'ING, ppr. Sweeping or rubbing with a brush; striking gently; moving nimbly in haste; skimming over lightly.
BRUSH'ING, a.  Brisk; light; as a brushing gallop.


Topic: Brushwood
Definition:
BRUSH'WOOD, n.  [brush and wood.]  Brush; a thicket or coppice of small trees and shrubs; also, branches of trees cut off.


Topic: Brustle
Definition:
BRUS'TLE, v.i.  brus'l.  To crackle; to make a small crackling noise; to rustle, as a silk garment; to vapor, as a bully.


Topic: Brutal
Definition:
BRU'TAL, a.  [See Brute.]  Pertaining to a brute; as brutal nature.
1.  Savage; cruel; inhuman; brutish; unfeeling like a brute; merciless; as brutal courage; brutal manners.


Topic: Brutalize
Definition:
BRU'TALIZE, v.t.  To make brutal, churlish or inhuman.
All cruel punishments brutalize the heart.
BRU'TALIZE, v.i.  To become brutal, inhuman, or coarse and beastly.


Topic: Brute
Definition:
BRUTE, a.  [L. brutus, senseless,irrational.]
1.  Senseless; unconscious; as the brute earth.
2.  Irrational; ferine; as a brute beast.
3.  Bestial; in common with beasts; as brute violence.
4.  Rough; uncivilized; insensible; as a brute philosopher.
BRUTE, n.  A beast; any animal destitute of reason, and of course the word comprehends all animals except man, but is applied mostly to the larger beasts.
1.  A brutal person; a savage in heart or manners; a low bred,unfeeling man.
BRUTE, v.t.  for bruit, to report.  [Not used.]


Topic: Brutish
Definition:
BRU'TISH, a.  Like a brute or beast; as a brutish form.
1.  Insensible; stupid; as brutish men.
2.  Unfeeling; savage; ferocious; brutal.
3.  Gross; carnal; bestial.
4.  Ignorant; uncivilized; untaught.


Topic: Brutism
Definition:
BRUTISM, n. The nature or characteristic qualitites or actions of a brute; extreme stupidity or beastly vulgarity.


Topic: Bryony
Definition:
BRY'ONY, n.  [L. bryonia.]  White jalap; a genus of plants of several species.  The root of the rough or white bryony is a strong irritating cathartic.
Black-bryony is a genus of plants, called Tamus.


Topic: Bubble
Definition:
BUB'BLE, n.  
1.  A small bladder or vesicle of water or other fluid inflated with air.
2.  Any thing that wants firmness or solidity; a vain project; that which is more specious than real.  Hence, a false show; a cheat or fraud.
3.  A delusive scheme of speculation; an empty project to raise money or imaginary grounds; as the South Sea bubble.
4.  A person deceived by an empty project.
BUB'BLE, v.i.  To rise in bubbles, as liquors when boiling or agitated.
1.  To run with a gurgling noise; as a bubbling stream.
BUB'BLE, v.t.  To cheat; to deceive or impose on.


Topic: Bubo
Definition:
BU'BO,n.  [L. bubo, a swelling.]  A tumor or abscess with inflammation, which rises in certain glandular parts of the body, as in the groin, or armpit.


Topic: Bubonocele
Definition:
BU'BONOCELE, n.  [Gr.the groin, and a tumor.] Hernia inguinalis, or inguinal rupture; a tumor in the groin, formed by a prolapsus of the intestines or omentum or both, through the processes of the peritoneum and rings of the abdominal muscles.


Topic: Bucao
Definition:
BUCA'O, n.  A species of owl, in the Philippine isles, of a beautiful plumage, and size of a peacock, but remarkable for a hideous nocturnal scream.


Topic: Buccal
Definition:
BUC'CAL, a.  [L. bucca, the cheek.]  Pertaining to the cheek. The buccal glands are the small glands of the mouth,under the cheek, which secrete saliva.


Topic: Buck
Definition:
BUCK, n.  Lye in which clothes are soaked in the operation of bleaching; the liquor in which clothes are washed.
1. The cloth or clothes soaked or washed in lye.
BUCK, v.t.  [L. imbuo, for imbuco or imbugo, to steep, tinge, imbue.]  To soak or steep in lye, a process in bleaching; to wash or steep in lye or suds.
BUCK, n.  The male of the fallow deer, of the goat, the sheep,the rabbit and hare.  It is applied only to the smaller quadrupeds.
BUCK, v.i.  To copulate as bucks and does.


Topic: Bucket
Definition:
BUCK'ET, n.  
1.  The vessel in which water is drawn out of a well; it is nearly in the form of a pail.
2.  A vessel or pail used at sea to draw water up at the side of a ship, for washing the decks, &c.
3.  A vessel made of leather, nearly in the form of a pail, but narrower and deeper, used to convey water by hand for extinguishing fires.


Topic: Bucking
Definition:
BUCK'ING, ppr.  Soaking in lye, in the process of bleaching; washing.
BUCK'ING, n.  The act or process of soaking cloth in lye for bleaching; also, the lye or liquor; a washing.


Topic: Buckle
Definition:
BUCK'LE, n.  
1.  An instrument made of some kind of metal, for fastening together certain parts of dress, as the straps and bands, as in a harness.  The forms are various, but it consists of a ring or rim with a chape and tongue.
2.  A curl, or a state of being curled or crisped, as hair.
3.  In coats of arms, a token of the surety, faith and service of the bearer.
BUCK'LE, v.t.  To fasten with a buckle,or buckles.
1.  To prepare for action; a metaphor, taken from buckling on armor.
2.  To join in battle.
3.  To confine or limit
A span buckles in his sum of age.


Topic: Buckler
Definition:
BUCK'LER, n.  A kind of shield, or piece of defensive armor, anciently used in war. It was composed of wood, or wickers woven together, covered with skin or leather, fortified with plates of brass or other metal, and worn on the left arm.  On the middle was an umbo, boss or prominence, very useful in causing stones and darts to glance off.  The buckler often was four feet long, and covered the whole body.
BUCK'LER, v.t.  To support; to defend. [Not used.]


Topic: Buckram
Definition:
BUCK'RAM, n.  A coarse linen cloth, stiffened with glue, used in garments to keep them in the form intended, and for wrappers to cover cloths, and other merchandize.
BUCK'RAM, a.  Stiff; precise.


Topic: Buckshorn
Definition:
BUCKS'HORN, n.  [buck and horn.] A plant, a species of Plantago, or plantain, called coronopus.
The warted buckshorn is a species of Cochlearia, or scurvy grass.


Topic: Buckskin
Definition:
BUCK'SKIN, n.  The skin of a buck.  As an adjective, made of leather prepared from the skin of a buck.


Topic: Buckthorn
Definition:
BUCK'THORN, n.  [buck and thorn.]  A genus of plants, called Rhamnus, of many species. The common purging buck-thorn grows to the height of 12 or 14 feet,and bears a black berry, which, when green, is used to dye yellow, and when ripe, green.  The bark also dyes yellow. The sea buck-thorn is a genus of plants,called Hippophae.


Topic: Buckwheat
Definition:
BUCK'WHEAT, n.  A plant and a species of grain; called also brank.  It belongs to the genus polygonum, or knot-grass.  It is cultivated as food for beasts, and the flour is much used in America for breakfast cakes.


Topic: Bucolic
Definition:
BUCOL'IC, a.  [Gr. a herdsman; pastoral;  L. buculus, an ox; bucolicus, pertaining to cattle, pastoral.]
Pastoral; relating to country affairs and to a shepherd's life and occupation.
BUCOL'IC, n. A pastoral poem, representing rural affairs, and the life, manners and occupation of shepherds; as the bucolics of Theocritus and Virgil.
1. A writer of pastorals.


Topic: Bud
Definition:
BUD, n.  [Gr. to plant or beget.] A gem; the shoot of a plant; a small protuberance on the stem or branches of a plant, containing the rudiments of future leaves or a flower. It is called by botanists the hybernacle, the winter lodge or receptacle of the leaves or flowers of plants, and is an epitome of a flower, or of a shoot, which is to be unfolded the succeeding summer.  It is covered with scales, which are intended to defend the inclosed rudiments from cold and other external injuries.are of three kinds; that containing the flower; that containing the leaves; and that containing both flower and leaves.
BUD, v.i.  To put forth or produce buds or gems. Job.19.9.
1.  To put forth shoots; to grow as a bud into a flower or shoot.
2.  To begin to grow, or to issue from a stock in the manner of a bud, as a horn.
3.  To be in bloom, or growing like a young plant.
BUD, v.t.  To inoculate a plant; to insert the bud of a plant under the bark of another tree, for the purpose of raising, upon any stock, a species of fruit different from that of the stock.


Topic: Buddle
Definition:
BUD'DLE, n.  In mining, a large square frame of board, used in washing tin ore.
BUD'DLE, v.i.  Among miners, to wash ore.


Topic: Budge
Definition:
BUDGE, v.t.  To move off; to stir; to wag. In America, wag is much used as equivalent to budge; but the use of both words is vulgar.
BUDGE,n.  The dressed skin or fur of lambs.
BUDGE, a.  Brisk; jocund.
1.  Surly; stiff; formal.


Topic: Budge-bachelors
Definition:
BUDGE-BACHELORS, a company of men clothed in long gowns lined with lamb's fur, who accompany the Lord Mayor of London at his inauguration.


Topic: Budge-barrel
Definition:
BUDGE-BARREL, n.  A small barrel with only one head; on the other end, a piece of leather is nailed, which is drawn together upon strings like a purse.  It is used for carrying powder, with a gun or mortar.


Topic: Budget
Definition:
BUDG'ET, n.
1.  A bag; a little sack, with its contents.  Hence, a stock or store; as a budget of inventions.
2. The papers respecting the finances of the British nation.
To open the budget,to lay before a legislative body the papers of the Executive Government.


Topic: Budlet
Definition:
BUD'LET, n.  [from bud.]  A little bud springing from a parent bud.
We have a criterion to distinguish one bud from another, or the parent bud from the numerous budlets which are its offspring.


Topic: Buff
Definition:
BUFF, n.  [contracted from buffalo,or buffskin.]
1.  Buffskin; a sort of leather, prepared from the skin of the buffalo, dressed with oil, like shammy.  It is used for making bandoliers, belts, pouches, gloves and other articles.  The skins of oxen, elks and other animals, dressed in like manner, are also called buffs.
2.  A military coat made of buff-skin or similar leather.
3.  The color of buff; a light yellow.
4.  A yellow viscid substance formed on the surface of blood drawn in inflammatory diseases.
BUFF, v.t.  To strike.  [See Buffet.]


Topic: Buffalo
Definition:
BUFF'ALO, n. [L. bubalus.]  The Bubalus, a species of the bovine genus, originally from India, but now found in most of the warmer countries of the Eastern Continent.  It is larger and less docile than the common ox, and is fond of marshy places and rivers. The name is also applied to wild oxen in general, and particularly to the Bison of North America.  [See Bison.]


Topic: Buffel
Definition:
BUFF'EL, n.  Buffel's head duck, anas bucephala, a bird with a short blue bill,and a head whose apparent size is greatly increased by the fullness of its feathers, found in winter in the rivers of Carolina.


Topic: Buffet
Definition:
BUFF'ET, n. A cupboard, or set of shelves, for plates, glass, china and other like furniture.  It was formerly and is still in some parts of the country, an apartment erected on one side of a room; but in more fashionable houses,it has been laid aside, and a side board substituted, which is now considered as the buffet.  But as far as my knowledge extends, the name has become, in a great measure, obsolete, except among the common people,by whom it is pronounced bofat.
BUFF'ET, n.  A blow with the fist; a box on the ear or face; a slap.
BUFF'ET, v.t.  To strike with the hand or fist; to box; to beat.
They spit in his face and buffetted him.  Math.26.
1.  To beat in contention; to contend against; as, to buffet the billows.
BUFF'ET, v.i.  To exercise or play at boxing.


Topic: Buffeting
Definition:
BUFF'ETING, ppr.  Striking with the hand; boxing; contending against.
BUFF'ETING, n.  A striking with the hand.
1.  Contention; attack; opposition.
He seems to have been a plant of slow growth,but formed for duration, and fitted to endure the buffetings of the rudest storm.


Topic: Buffle
Definition:
BUFF'LE, n.  The buffalo.
BUFF'LE, v.i.  To puzzle; to be at a loss.
This is probably the same word as baffle.


Topic: Buffoon
Definition:
BUFFOON',n.  
1.  A man who makes a practice of amusing others by low tricks, antic gestures and posture, jokes and other vulgar pleasantries.  A droll; a mimic.
2.  He that uses indecent raillery.
BUFFOON', n.  v.t.  To make ridiculous.


Topic: Buffoonery
Definition:
BUFFOON'ERY, n.  The arts and practices of a buffoon; low jests; ridiculous pranks; vulgar tricks and postures.
Dryden has placed the accent improperly on the first syllable.


Topic: Bufonite
Definition:
BU'FONITE, n.  [L. bufo, a toad.] Toadstone, or fossil-teeth of the anarrhicas or sea-wolf, formerly much esteemed for its imaginary virtues and worn in rings.  It was named from an opinion that it was found in the head of a toad.


Topic: Bug
Definition:
BUG, n.  In common language, the name of a vast multitude of insects, which infest houses and plants.  In zoology, this word is applied to the insects arranged under the genus Cimex, of which several hundred species are described.  Bugs belong to the order of hemipters.  They are furnished with a rostrum or beak, with antennae longer than the thorax, and the winds are folded together crosswise.  The back is flat, the throat margined, and the feet are formed for running.  Some species have no wings.  The house-bug, or bed-bug, is a troublesome and disgusting insect.


Topic: Buggery
Definition:
BUG'GERY, n.  The unnatural and detestable crime of carnal intercourse of man or woman with a beast; or of human beings unnaturally with each other.


Topic: Bugle-weed
Definition:
BU'GLE-WEED, n.  A plant, the lycopus virginicus, valued as a remedy for haemoptysis, or spitting of blood.


Topic: Bugloss
Definition:
BU'GLOSS, n.  [L. buglossus;  Gr. an ox, and tongue.]
A genus of plants, called alkanet; in botany, anchusa.
The small wild bugloss, is the Asperugo.
The viper's bugloss, is the Echium.


Topic: Buhrstone
Definition:
BUHR'STONE, n.  A subspecies of silex or quartz, occurring in amorphous masses, partly compact, but containing many irregular cavities.  It is used for mill-stones.
This word is often written burr-stone.


Topic: Builder
Definition:
BUILD'ER, n.  bild'er.  One who builds; one whose occupation is to build; an architect, a ship-wright,a mason, &c.
1.  A creator.
Whose builder and maker is God.  Heb.11.


Topic: Building
Definition:
BUILD'ING, ppr. bild'ing. Framing and erecting; resting on.
BUILD'ING, n.  bild'ing.  A fabric or edifice constructed for use or convenience, as a house,a church, a shop, &c.


Topic: Built
Definition:
BUILT, pp.  bilt. Framed and raised; constructed.
BUILT, n.  bilt.  Form; shape; general figure of a structure; as the built of a ship.
1.  Species of building.


Topic: Bulb
Definition:
BULB, n.  [L. bulbus, a bulb or round root.]  A round body, applied to many objects.  But in botany, it is appropriately a bud formed under ground, upon or near the roots of certain herbaceous plants, which are hence called bulbous plants, as the tulip, onion and lily.  The bulb under ground is what the bud is upon the stem or branches, a hybernacle or winter receptacle of a future plant, containing the plant in embryo, covered with a bark or rind, generally consisting of scales placed over each other, to defend the tender rudiments of the plant from cold and other external injuries.  A bulb is scaly in the lily, solid in the tulip, coated in the onion, and jointed in the tuberous moschatel.
BULB, v.i.  To bulb out is to project or be protuberant.  [Little used.]


Topic: Bulbous
Definition:
BULB'OUS, a.  Containing bulbs or a bulb; growing from bulbs; round or roundish.
1.  Containing a knob, or protuberant part; swelling out; presenting rounded elevations.


Topic: Bulge
Definition:
BULGE, n.  A different orthography of bilge.  The bilge or protuberant part of a cask; protuberance.
BULGE, v.i.  To swell out; to be protuberant.
1.  To bilge as a ship.  [See Bilge.]


Topic: Bulimy
Definition:
BU'LIMY, n.  [Gr. great, and hunger.]  A voracious appetite; a disease in which the patient has a perpetual and insatiable appetite for food, and often faints, if not indulged.  It is attended with various symptoms; sometimes with heartburn; sometimes with vomiting or convulsion.


Topic: Bulk
Definition:
BULK, n.  
1.  Magnitude of material substance; whole dimensions; size of a thing; as an ox or a ship of great bulk.
2.  The gross; the majority; the main mass or body; as the bulk of a debt; the bulk of a nation.
3.  Main fabric.
4.  The whole content of a ship's hood for the stowage of goods.
5.  A part of a building jutting out.
To break bulk, in seamen's language, is to begin to unload.
Laden in bulk, having the cargo loose in the hold, or not inclosed in boxes, bales or casks.


Topic: Bulk-head
Definition:
BULK'-HEAD, n.  [bulk and head.]  A partition in a ship made with boards, to form separate apartments.


Topic: Bull
Definition:
BULL, n.  
1.  The male of the Bos, or bovine genus of quadrupeds, of which cow is the female.
2.  In a scriptural sense, an enemy,powerful, fierce and violent.
Many bulls have compassed me.  Psalms.
3.  Taurus, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
BULL, n.  [L. bulla, a boss, and an ornament worn on a child's neck. This name was given to the seal which was appended to the edicts and briefs of the Pope,and in process of time, applied to the edict itself.]
1.  A letter, edict or rescript of the Pope, published or transmitted to the churches over which he is head, containing some decree, order or decision.  It is used chiefly in matters of justice or of grace.  If the former, the lead or seal is hung by a hempen cord; if the latter,by a silken thread.  The lead or bull is impressed on one side with the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul; on the other with the name of the Pope and the year of his pontificate.  The writing is in the old, round Gothic letter; and the instrument has about it a cross with some text of scripture, or religious motto.
The Golden Bull, so called from its golden seal, is an edict or imperial constitution, made by the Emperor Charles V., containing the fundamental law of the German Empire.
Leaden Bulls were sent by the Emperors of Constantinople to patriarchs and princes; and by the grandees of the Empire of France, Sicily, &c., and by patriarchs and bishops.
Waxen bulls were in frequent use with the Greek Emperors, who thus sealed letters to their relations.
1.  A blunder or contradiction.
BULL, a prefix, signifies a bull, or large, or having a large head.


Topic: Bull-fight
Definition:
BULL'-FIGHT, n.  [bull and fight.]  A combat with a bull; an amusement among the Spaniards and Portuguese.  A horseman, called a toreador or picador attacks a bull in a circus or inclosed arena, in presence of multitudes of spectators, irritating him with a spear, till the bull rushes upon the horseman, and perhaps dismounts the rider.  After the bull has been tormented a long time, the horseman leaves him, and some persons on foot attack him and plunge darts into his neck; and at a signal given by the president, the barbarous sport is ended by the dagger of a matador.


Topic: Bull-head
Definition:
BULL'-HEAD, n.  [bull and head.]  A genus of fishes, the Cottus, with a head broader than the body,whence the name. This fish is called by some the Miller's thumb.
1.  A stupid fellow; a lubber.
2.  A small black water vermin.


Topic: Bullace
Definition:
BULL'ACE, n.  The bully-tree, or Chrysophyllum, a plant of two species, natives of the West Indies.
1.  The wild plum, a species of Prunus.


Topic: Bullantic
Definition:
BULLAN'TIC, a.  [from bull.]  Designating certain ornamental capital letters, used in Apostolic bulls.  It is used also as a noun.


Topic: Bullet
Definition:
BULL'ET, n.  A ball of iron or lead, called also shot, used to load guns for killing man or beast. Balls for cannon are made of iron; musket-balls are made of lead.


Topic: Bulletin
Definition:
BULL'ETIN, n.  A French word denoting
1.  An official report from an officer to his commander or superior.
2.  An official report of a physician respecting the king's health.
3.  A little note given by a banking company.
4.  It is sometimes used for a notice,or public announcement; as a bibliographical bulletin.


Topic: Bullion
Definition:
BULL'ION, n.  Uncoined gold or silver in the mass.  The precious metals are called bullion, when smelted and not perfectly refined,or when refined,but in bars, ingots,or in any form uncoined, as in plate.


Topic: Bullition
Definition:
BULLI'TION, n.  [L. bullio, to boil. See Boil.]  The act or state of boiling.  Superseded by ebullition.


Topic: Bulls-eye
Definition:
BULL'S-EYE, n.  [bull and eye.]  Among seamen, a piece of wood in the form of a ring, answering the purpose of a thimble.
1.  Aldebaran, a star of the first magnitude in the constellation Taurus.
2.  A small obscure cloud, ruddy in the middle, portending a great storm.


Topic: Bully
Definition:
BULL'Y, n.  A noisy, blustering overbearing fellow, more distinguished for insolence and empty menaces, than for courage, and disposed to provoke quarrels.
BULL'Y, v.t.  To insult and overbear with noise and blustering menaces.


Topic: Bulrush
Definition:
BUL'RUSH, n.  [bole, or boll, and rush.]  A large kind of rush, growing in wet land or water, and without knots, says Johnson, but Dryden calls it, the knotty bulrush.  It is not a technical word.


Topic: Bulwark
Definition:
BUL'WARK, n.
1.  In fortification, a bastion, or a rampart; a mound of earth round a place, capable of resisting cannon shot, and formed with bastions, curtains, &c.
2.  A fortification; also, any means of defense; as, a navy is the bulwark of a nation.
3.  That which secures against an enemy or external annoyance; a screen or shelter; means of protection and safety.
Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Is.26.
BUL'WARK, v.t.  To fortify with a rampart; to secure by a fortification; to protect.


Topic: Bumbailiff
Definition:
BUMBA'ILIFF, n.  [A corruption of bound bailiff.]  In England, an under-bailiff; a subordinate civil officer, appointed to serve writs, and to make arrests and executions, and bound with sureties for a faithful discharge of his trust.  [A vulgar word.]


Topic: Bumkin
Definition:
BUM'KIN, n.  [See Bumpkin.] A short boom projecting from each bow of a ship, to extend the clue of the foresail to windward.
1.  A small out-rigger over the stern of a boat, to extend the mizen.


Topic: Bump
Definition:
BUMP, n.  [L. bombus, and Eng. pomp.,from swelling, thrusting out.]
1.  A swelling or protuberance.
2.  A thump; a heavy blow.
BUMP, v.i.  To make a loud, heavy or hollow noise, as the bittern.  It is also written boom.
BUMP, v.t.  To strike as with or against any thing large or solid, as to bump the head against a wall; to thump.


Topic: Bunch
Definition:
BUNCH, n.
1.  A protuberance; a hunch; a knob or lump; as the bunch on a camel's back.
2.  A cluster; a number of the same kind growing together; as a bunch of grapes.
3.  A number of things tied together; as a bunch of keys; a bunch or rods.
4.  A collection of things; a knot; as a bunch of hair; a bunch of trees.
BUNCH, v.i.  To swell out in a protuberance; to be protuberant or round.
BUNCH, v.t.  To form or tie in a bunch or bunches.


Topic: Bundle
Definition:
BUN'DLE, n.
1.  A number of things put together.
2.  A roll; any thing bound or rolled into a convenient form for conveyance; as a bundle of lace; a bundle of hay.


Topic: Bung
Definition:
BUNG, n.
1.  The stopple of the orifice in the bilge of a cask.
2.  The hole or orifice in the bilge of a cast.
BUNG, v.t. To stop the orifice in the bilge of a cask with a bung; to close up.


Topic: Bungle
Definition:
BUNG'LE, v.i.  bung'gl. To perform in a clumsy, awkward manner; as, to bungle in making shoes.
BUNG'LE, v.t.  To make or mend clumsily; to both; to manage awkwardly; with up.
BUNG'LE, n.  A botch; inaccuracy; gross blunder; clumsy performance.


Topic: Bunn
Definition:
BUNN, or BUN, n.  [Gr. a hill, and a cake offered to deities.]
A small cake, or a kind of sweet bread.


Topic: Bunsing
Definition:
BUN'SING,n.  An animal found at the Cape of Good Hope, resembling the ferret, but twice as large.  When pursued, it emits an intolerable stench.


Topic: Bunt
Definition:
BUNT, n. The middle part, cavity, or belly of a sail.
BUNT, v.i.  To swell out; as, the sail bunts.
1.  In popular language, to push with the horns; to butt. [See Point.]


Topic: Bunting
Definition:
BUNT'ING, n.  A bird of the genus Emberiza.  The name is applied to different species, as the English bunting and the rice bunting.
BUNT'ING, or BUN'TINE, n.  A thin woolen stuff, of which the colors or flags and signals of ships are made.


Topic: Buntlines
Definition:
BUNT'LINES, n.  Ropes fastened to cringles on the bottoms of square sails, to draw them up to their yards.


Topic: Buoy
Definition:
BUOY, n.  A close empty cask, or a block of wood or cork, fastened by a rope to an anchor,and floating on the water, to show where the anchor is situated. Buoys are of various kinds, as can-buoys, in the form of a cone; nun-buoys, which are large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end; cable-buoys, empty casks,employed to buoy up the cable, in rocky anchorage.  Buoys are used also as marks, to point out the situation of rocks, shoals, or a channel.
To stream the buoy, is to let it fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor.


Topic: Buoyancy
Definition:
BUOY'ANCY, n.  The quality of floating on the surface of water, or in the atmosphere; specific lightness.


Topic: Buoyant
Definition:
BUOY'ANT, a.  Floating; light; that will not sink; having the quality of rising or floating in a fluid.
1. Bearing up, as a fluid; sustaining another body.  [Unusual.]


Topic: Burbast
Definition:
BUR'BAST, n.  A different orthography of bombast, which see.]
1. A cloth made by sewing one stuff upon another; patchwork.
2.  Linen stuffed with cotton; stuffing; waddling.


Topic: Burbot
Definition:
BUR'BOT, n. [from L. barbatus, so named from its beard.]
A fish of the genus Gadus,shaped like an eel, but shorter, with a flat head, and on the nose it has two small beards, and another on the chin.  It is disgusting in appearance, but delicate food.  It is called also eel-pout.


Topic: Burden
Definition:
BURD'EN, n.  burd'n; written also burthen. [L. fero,or porto.]
1.  That which is borne or carried; a load. Hence,
2.  That which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which is grievous, wearisome or oppressive.
3.  A birth.
4.  The verse repeated in a song, or the return of the theme at the end of each verse; the chorus; so called from the application of this word to the drone or base, and the pipe or string which plays it, in an instrument.  A chord which is to be divided, to perform the intervals of music,when open and undivided, is also called the burden.
5.  In common language, that which is often repeated; a subject on which one dwells.
6.  A fixed quantity of certain commodities; as a burden of gad steel, 120 pounds.
7.  The contents of a ship; the quantity or number of tons, a vessel will carry; as a ship of a hundred tons burden.
8.  A club.  [Not in use.]
BURD'EN, v.t.  burd'n.  To load; to lay on a heavy load; to incumber with weight.  Hence,
1.  To oppress with any thing grievous; as, to burden a nation with taxes.
2. To surcharge; as, to burden the memory.


Topic: Burdock
Definition:
BUR'DOCK, n. [bur and dock.]  A genus of plants, called Arctium.  They are troublesome weeds.
The lesser burdock is a species of zanthium.


Topic: Bureau
Definition:
BU'REAU, n.  buro.
1.  A chest of drawers, for keeping papers or clothes.
2.  An ambassador's or secretary's office.
In Spanish, this word bureo is a court of justice for the trial of persons belonging to the king's household.


Topic: Burg
Definition:
BURG, n.  [This is the same word as borough, the only difference being in the pronunciation of the final letter.]
A borough; originally a fortified town, but now a city or town, which send members to parliament, whether incorporated or not.  [See Borough.]


Topic: Burgage
Definition:
BURG'AGE, n.  [from burg.]  In English law, tenure in burgage, or burgage tenure, is tenure in socage, applied to cities or towns, or where houses, or lands which were formerly the site of houses, in an ancient borough, are held of some lord in common socage by a certain established rent; a remnant of Saxon liberty.


Topic: Burgess
Definition:
BURG'ESS, n.  
1.  An inhabitant of a borough, or walled town; or one who possesses a tenement therein; a citizen or freeman of a borough.
2.  A representative of a borough in parliament.
3.  A magistrate of certain towns.
4.  Before the revolution, the representatives in the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia, were called burgesses, as the House of Burgesses.  It is now called the House of Delegate.


Topic: Burgh-master
Definition:
BURGH'-M'ASTER, n.  [burgh and master.]  A burgomaster; also, an officer in the tinmines, who directs and lays out the meers for the workmen, called also bailiff and bar-master.


Topic: Burgher
Definition:
BURGH'ER, n. [from burg.]  An inhabitant of a burgh or borough, who enjoys the privileges of the borough of which he is a free man.  In America, it is applied to any native citizen, especially in the state of New York.


Topic: Burglar
Definition:
BURG'LAR, n.  [burgh or burg, a house]  One guilty of nocturnal house breaking; one who breaks and enters a mansion house, with intent to commit a felony.


Topic: Burglarious
Definition:
BURGLA'RIOUS, a.  Pertaining to burglary; constituting the crime of burglary.
To come down a chimney is held a burglarious entry.


Topic: Burglary
Definition:
BURG'LARY, n. The act or crime of nocturnal house breaking, with an intent to commit a felony.  To constitute this crime, the act must be committed in the night, or when there is not day-light enough to discern a man's face.  It must be in a mansion house, or in an adjoining building which is a part or parcel of the mansion.  There must be an actual breaking and an entry; but an opening made by the offender, as by taking out a pane of glass, or lifting a window, raising a latch, picking a lock, or removing any fastening, amounts to a breaking; and a putting in of the hand, after such breaking, is an entry. The act must also be done with an intent to commit felony.


Topic: Burgomaster
Definition:
BURG'OM'ASTER, n.  [burg and master.]  A burgh-master; a magistrate or one employed in the government of a city.  The burgomasters are the chief magistrates of the great towns, in Holland, Flanders and Germany.


Topic: Burgundy
Definition:
BUR'GUNDY, n.  A kind of wine, so called from Burgundy in France.
Burgundy pitch is turpentine boiled down to a firmer consistence.


Topic: Burh
Definition:
BURH, is the same as burg, burgh, with the aspirate.  It is Saxon, and signifies a city, a castle, a house, or tower. Hence in composition it signified defense, protection; as cwenburh, [queen-burh] a woman ready to assist; Cuthburh, eminent for assistances.


Topic: Burial
Definition:
BURIAl, n.  ber'rial.  [See Bury.]  The act of burying a deceased person; sepulture; interment; the act of depositing a dead body in the earth, in a tomb or vault, or in the water.
1.  The act of placing any thing under earth or water; as, to bury see in the earth.
2.  The church service for funerals.


Topic: Burl
Definition:
BURL, v.t.  [See Burly.]  To dress cloth as fullers do.
1.  To pick knots and loose threads off from cloth.


Topic: Burlesk
Definition:
BURLESK',  a.  [The termination esque answers to Eng.]  Jocular; tending to excite laughter by ludicrous images, or by a contrast between the subject and the manner of treating it, as when a trifling subject is treated with gravity.


Topic: Burly
Definition:
BURL'Y, a.  [The sense probably is swelled.]  Great in size; bulky; timid; falsely great; boisterous.  This word is obsolete or nearly so in America; but hurly-burly is common in vulgar use, for noise, confusion, uproar.


Topic: Burn
Definition:
BURN, v.t.  pret. and pp. burned or burnt.  [L. pruna, and perhaps, furnus, fornaz, a furnace.  The primary sense is, to rage, to act with violent excitement.]
 1.  To consume with fire; to reduce to ashes by the action of heat or fire; frequently with up; as, to burn up wood.
2. To expel the volatile parts and reduce to charcoal by fire; as, to burn wood into coal.  Hence, in popular language, to burn a kiln of wood, is to char the wood.
3.  To cleanse of soot by burning; to inflame; as, to burn a chimney; an extensive use of the word.
4.  To harden in the fire; to bake or harden by heat; as, to burn bricks or a brick kiln.
5.  To scorch; to affect by heat; as, to burn the clothes or the legs by the fire; to burn meat or bread in cookery.
6.  To injure by fire; to affect the flesh by heat.
7.  To dry up or dissipate; with up; as, to burn up tears.  
8.  To dry excessively; to cause to wither by heat; as,the sun burns the grass or plants.
9.  To heat or inflame; to affect with excessive stimulus; as, ardent spirits burn the stomach.
    10. To affect with heat in cookery, so as to give the food a disagreeable taste. Hence the phrase burnt to.
    11. To calcine with heat or fire; to expel the volatile matter from substances, so that they are easily pulverized; as, to burn oyster shells, or lime-stone.
    12. To affect with excess of heat; as, the fever burns a patient.
    13. To subject to the action of fire; to heat or dry; as, to burn colors.
To burn up, to consume entirely by fire.
To burn out, to burn till the fuel is all consumed.
BURN, v.i.  To be on fire; to flame; as, the mount burned with fire.
1.  To shine; to sparkle.
O prince! O wherefore burn your eyes?
2.  To be inflamed with passion or desire; as, to burn with anger or love.
3.  To act with destructive violence, as fire.
  Shall thy wrath burn like fire?
4.  To be in commotion; to rage with destructive violence.
The groan still deepens and the combat burns.
5.  To be heated; to be in a glow; as, the face burns.
6.  To be affected with a sensation of heat, pain or acidity; as, the heart burns.
7.  To feel excess of heat; as, the flesh burns by a fire; a patient burns with a fever.
To burn out, to burn till the fuel is exhausted and the fire ceases.
BURN, n.  A hurt or injury of the flesh caused by the action of fire.
1.  The operation of burning or baking, as in brickmaking; as, they have a good burn.


Topic: Burned
Definition:
BURN'ED, BURNT, pp.  Consumed with fire; scorched or dried with fire or heat; baked or hardened in the fire.


Topic: Burning
Definition:
BURN'ING, ppr.  Consuming with fire; flaming; scorching; hardening by fire; calcining; charring; raging as fire; glowing.
BURN'ING, n.  Combustion; the act of expelling volatile matter and reducing to ashes, or to a calx; a fire; inflammation; the heat or raging of passion. In surgery, actual cautery; cauterization.
BURN'ING, a. Powerful; vehement; as a burning shame; a burning scent.
1.  Much heated; very hot; scorching.
The burning plains of India.


Topic: Burning-glass
Definition:
BURN'ING-GLASS, n.  [burn and glass.]  A convex glass which, when exposed to the direct rays of the sun, collects them into a small space, called a focus, producing an intense heat.  The name is given also to a concave mirror which condenses the sun's rays.


Topic: Burnish
Definition:
BURN'ISH, v.t.  To polish by friction; to make smooth, bright and glossy; as, to burnish steel.
BURN'ISH, v.i.  To grow bright or glossy.
BURN'ISH, n.  Gloss; brightness; luster.


Topic: Burnisher
Definition:
BURN'ISHER, n.  The person who polishes,or makes glossy.
1.  An instrument used in polishing, of different kinds.  It may be a piece of round polished steel, a dog's or wolf's tooth, a piece of copper, agate or pebble. &c.  It is used for giving a gloss or smoothness to metals, to the edges of books, &c.


Topic: Burnt-offering
Definition:
BURNT-OFFERING, n.  [burnt and offer.]  Something offered and burnt on an altar, as an atonement for sin; a sacrifice; called also burnt-sacrifice.  The offerings of the Jews were a clean animal, as an ox, a calf, a goat, or sheep; or some species of vegetable substance, as bread and ears of wheat or barley.


Topic: Burr
Definition:
BURR, n.  The lobe or lap of the ear.
1.  The round knob of a horn next a deer's head.
2.  The sweetbread.
Burr-pump, or bilge-pump.  A pump, having a staff of 6,7 or 8 feet long with a bar of wood to which the leather is nailed,which serves instead of a box.  This staff is worked by men who pull it up and down, with a rope fastened to the middle of it.


Topic: Burrel-shot
Definition:
BURREL-SHOT, n.  Small shot, nails, stones, pieces of old iron, &c., put into cases, to be discharged among enemies.


Topic: Burrow
Definition:
BUR'ROW, n.  A different orthography of burgh, borough, which see.
BUR'ROW, n.  A hollow place in the earth or in a warren, where small animals lodge, and sometimes deposit their provisions.  Some animals excavate the earth, by scratching, and form these lodges.
BUR'ROW, v.i.  To lodge in a hole excavated in the earth, as coneys or rabbits.  In a more general sense, to lodge in any deep or concealed place.  The word seems to include the idea of excavating a hole for a lodge, as well as lodging in it; but the verb is not often used transitively, as to burrow the earth.


Topic: Bursar
Definition:
BURS'AR, n.  [See Burse.]  A treasurer,or cash-keeper, as the bursar of a college, or of a monastery; a purser.
1.  A student to whom a stipend is paid out of a burse or fund appropriated for that purpose, as the exhibitioners sent to the universities in Scotland by each presbytery.


Topic: Burse
Definition:
BURSE,  n. burs.
1.  A public edifice in certain cities, for the meeting of merchants to consult on matters of trade and money, and to negotiate bills of exchange.  This is the name used in many cities in Europe, but in England and America, such building is called an exchange. The new Burse in Paris is one of the most elegant buildings in the city.
2.  In France, a fund or foundation for the maintenance of poor scholars in their studies.  In the middle ages, it signified a little college, or a ball in a university.


Topic: Burst
Definition:
BURST, v.i. pret. and pp. burst.  The old participle bursten is nearly obsolete.
1.  To fly or break open with force, or with sudden violence; to suffer a violent disruption.  The peculiar force of this word is, in expressing a sudden rupture, with violence, or expansion, or both.  Hence it is generally used to signify the sudden rupture of a thing by internal force,and a liberation from confinement; as, to burst from a prison; the heart bursts with grief.
2.  To break away; to spring from; as, to burst from the arms.
3.  To come or fall upon suddenly or with violence; to rush upon unexpectedly; as, a sound bursts upon our ears.
4.  To issue suddenly, or to come from a hidden or retired place into more open view; as, a river bursts from a valley; a spring bursts from the earth.
 5.  To break forth into action suddenly; as, to burst into tears.
6.  To break or rush in with violence; as, to burst into a house or a room.
It is often followed by an intensive particle; as, out, forth, away, from, or asunder.
BURST, v.t.  To break or rend by force or violence; to open suddenly; as, to burst a chain or a door; to burst a cannon.
BURST, n.  A sudden disruption; a violent rending; more appropriately, a sudden explosion or shooting forth; as a burst of thunder; a burst of applause, a burst of passion.
1.  A rupture, a hernia, or the unnatural protrusion of the contents of the abdomen.
BURST, or BURST'EN, pp. or a.  Affected with a rupture or hernia.
BURST, pp. Opened or rent asunder by violence.


Topic: Burton
Definition:
BUR'TON, n.  A small tackle formed by two blocks or pulleys, used to set up or tighten the topmost shrouds, and for various other purposes; called also top-burton-tackle.


Topic: Bury
Definition:
BURY, n.  ber'ry.  This word is a different orthography of burg, burh, borough. It signifies a house, habitation or castle, and is retained in many names of places, as in Shrewsbury, Danbury, Aldermanbury.  The word is used by Grew, for burrow.
BURY, v.t. ber'ry.
1.  To deposit a deceased person in the grave; to inter a corpse; to entomb.
2.  To cover with earth, as seed sown.
3.  To hide; to conceal; to overwhelm; to cover with any thing; as, to bury any one in the ruins of a city.
4.  To withdraw or conceal in retirement; as, to bury one's self in a monastery or in solitude.
5.  To commit to the water; to deposit in the ocean; as dead bodies buried in the deep.
6.  To place one thing within another.
Thy name so buried in her.
7.  To forget and forgive; to hide in oblivion; as, to bury an injury.
To bury the hatchet, in the striking metaphorical language of American Indians, is to lay aside the instruments of war, forget injuries, and make peace.


Topic: Burying
Definition:
BURYING, ppr.  Interring; hiding; covering with earth; overwhelming.
BURYING, n.  The act of interring the dead; sepulture. John.12.7.


Topic: Bush
Definition:
BUSH, n.  [L. pasco, originally, to feed on sprouts.]
1.  A shrub with branches; a thick shrub; also, a cluster of shrubs. With hunters, a fox tail.
2.  An assemblage of branches interwoven.
3.  A branch of a tree fixed or hung out as a tavern sign.  Hence, since the branch has been discontinued, a coronated frame of wood hung out as a tavern sign, is so called.  Hence the English proverb, 'Good wine needs no bush.'
[I know not that this word is thus used in the U. States.]
4.  A circle of metal let into the sheaves of such blocks as have iron pins, to prevent their wearing.
This word when applied to sheaves is called bush, but when applied to the circular iron of a cart wheel is, in America, called a box.
BUSH, v.i.  To grow thick or bushy.
BUSH, v.t. To furnish a block with a bush.


Topic: Bushel
Definition:
BUSH'EL, n.  A dry measure, containing eight gallons, or four pecks. The standard English bushel,by Stat.12 . Henry VII., contains eight gallons of wheat, each gallon eight pounds of wheat, troy weight, the pound, twelve ounces troy, the ounce, twenty sterlings, and the sterling,thirty two grains of wheat growing in the middle of the ear. The contents are 2145.6 solid inches, equivalent to 1131 ounces and 14 pennyweights troy.
The English bushel is used also in the U. States.
Bushel signifies both the quantity or capacity, and the vessel which will contain the quantity.
1.  In popular language, a large quantity indefinitely.
2.  The circle of iron in the nave of a wheel; in America, called a box.  [See Bush.]


Topic: Bushiness
Definition:
BUSH'INESS, n.  [from bush, bushy.]  The quality of being bushy, thick or intermixed, like the branches of a bush.


Topic: Bushy
Definition:
BUSH'Y, a.  [from bush.]  Full of branches; thick and spreading, like a bush; as a bushy beard or brier.
1. Full of bushes; overgrown with shrubs.


Topic: Busily
Definition:
BUSILY, adv. biz'zily.  With constant occupation; actively; earnestly; as, to be busily employed.
1. With an air of hurry or importance; with too much curiosity; importunately; officiously.


Topic: Business
Definition:
BUSINESS, n. biz'ness.  [See Busy.]  Employment; that which occupies the time, attention and labor of men, for the purpose of profit or improvement--a word of extensive use and indefinite signification.  Business is a particular occupation, as agriculture, trade, mechanic art, or profession, and when used of a particular employment, the word admits of the plural number, businesses.  Business is also any temporary employment.
1.  Affairs; concerns; as, a man leaves his business in an unsettled state.
2.  The subject of employment; that which engages the care and attention.
You are so much the business of our souls.
3.  Serious engagement; important occupation,in distinction from trivial affairs.
It should be the main business of life to serve God, and obey his commands.
4.  Concern; right of action or interposing.
'What business has a man with the disputes of others?'
5.  A point; a matter of question; something to be examined or considered.
Fitness to govern is a perplexed business.
6.  Something to be done; employment of importance to one's interest, opposed to amusement; as, we have no business in town.
They were far from the Zidonians and had no business with any one.
7.  Duty, or employment that duty enjoins. A lawyer's business is to do justice to his clients.
To do the business for a man, is to kill, destroy or ruin him.


Topic: Busk
Definition:
BUSK, n.  A piece of steel or whale bone, worn by women to strengthen their stays; a word dependent on fashion.
BUSK, n.  A bush.  [Not used.]
BUSK, v.i.  To be active or busy.


Topic: Busket
Definition:
BUSK'ET, n. In gardening, a grove, a compartment formed by branches of trees, regularly or irregularly disposed, according to fancy.


Topic: Buskin
Definition:
BUSK'IN, n.  A kind of half boot, or high shoe, covering the foot and leg to the middle and tied underneath the knee, worn by actors in tragedy on the state. The buskins of the ancients had very thick soles, to raise the actors and actresses to the stature of the persons they represented.
1.  In classic authors, the word is used for tragedy.


Topic: Busky
Definition:
BUSK'Y, a. Busky; wooded; shaded or overgrown with trees or shrubs; generally written bosky.  [See Bush.]


Topic: Buss
Definition:
BUSS, n. [L. basio.]  A kiss; a salute with the lips.
1.  A small vessel, from 50 to 70 tons burthen, carrying two masts, and two sheds or cabins, one at each end; used in the herring fishery.
BUSS, v.t.  To kiss; to salute with the lips.


Topic: Bust
Definition:
BUST, n.  [L. bustum.]  In sculpture, the figure of a person in relief, showing only the head, shoulders and stomach; ordinarily placed on a pedestal or console. In speaking of an antique, we say the head is marble and the bust porphyry or bronze; that is, the shoulders and stomach.  The Italians use the word for the trunk of the body from the neck to the hips.


Topic: Bustard
Definition:
BUST'ARD, n.  The tarda, a species of fowl of the grallic order, and genus Otis.  The fowl grows to the weight of 25 or 27 pounds, with a breadth of wing of six or seven feet.  It inhabits England, feeding on green corn and other vegetables, and on earth-worms.  It runs fast and takes flight with difficulty.


Topic: Bustle
Definition:
BUS'TLE, v.i. bus'l. [ This word may be allied to busy,or to L. festino.]
To stir quick; to be very active; to be very quick in motion, often or usually with the sense of noise or agitation.
And leave the world for me to bustle in.
BUS'TLE, n.  bus'l.  Hurry; great stir; rapid motion with noise and agitation; tumult from stirring or agitation; combustion.
All would have been well without this bustle.


Topic: Busy
Definition:
BUSY, a.  biz'zy.
1.  Employed with constant attention; engaged about something that renders interruption inconvenient; as, a man is busy in posting his books.
My mistress is busy and cannot come.
2.  Actively employed; occupied without cessation; constantly in motion; as a busy bee.
3.  Active in that which does not concern the person; meddling with or prying into the affairs of others; officious; importunate;hence, troublesome; vexatious.
4.  Much occupied with employment; as a busy day.
BUSY, v.t. biz'zy.  To employ with constant attention; to keep engaged; to make or keep busy; as, to busy one's self with books.
To be busied with genue and species.


Topic: Busy-body
Definition:
BUSY-BODY, n. biz'zy-body.  [busy and body.]
A meddling person; one who officiously concerns himself with the affairs of others.


Topic: But
Definition:
BUT, part. for butan.
1.  Except; besides;unless.
Who can it be, but perjured Lycon?
That is, removed, separated, excepted.
Lycon being separated, or excepted, who can it be?
     And but infirmity,
Which waits upon worn times, hath something seized
His wish'd ability, he had himself
The lands and waters measured.
That is, except,unless, separate this fact, that infirmity had seized his ability,he had measured the lands and waters.
In this use but, butan, is a participle equivalent to excepting, and may be referred to the person speaking, or more naturally, it is equivalent to excepted,and with the following words, or clause,forming the case absolute.
Who can it be,Lycon being excepted?
And but my noble Moor is true of mind, it were enough to put him to ill thinking.
It cannot be but nature hath some director, of infinite power, to guide her in all her ways.
There is no question but the King of Spain will reform most of the abuses.
It is not impossible but I may alter the complexion of my play. 
In the last three examples, that is omitted after but.
It is not impossible but that I may alter the complexion of my play.
In these and all similar phrases,but denotes separation, exception.
2.  Only.
A formidable man, but to his friends.
There is but one man present.use of but is a modern innovation; but perhaps too firmly established to be corrected. In all such phrases, a negative, not, nothing, or other word,is omitted.  He is not a formidable man, but to his enemies, that is, except.  There is not but one man present, that is, there is not except or besides one present.  So also, 'Our light affliction is but for a moment.' 2 Cor. 4.  Our affliction is not, except for a moment.
If they kill us, we shall but die.  2 Kings.7.
The common people in America retain the original and correct phrase,usually employing a negative. They do not say, I have but one.  On the other hand, they say, I have not but one, that is, I have not except one; except one, and I have none.  This word but for butan is not a conjunction, nor has it the least affinity to that part of speech.
BUT, cong. [Eng.over.]
More; further; noting an addition to supply what is wanting to elucidate, or modify the sense of the preceding part of a sentence, or of a discourse, or to continue the discourse, or to exhibit a contrast.
Now abide faith, hope, charity, these three; 
but, the greatest of these is charity. 1 Cor.13.
When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the
lowly is wisdom.  Prov. 11.
Our wants are many and grievous; but quite of another
  kind.
The house of representatives were well agreed in passing the bill; but the senate dissented.
This word is in fact a noun equivalent to addition or supply; but in grammatical construction, no inconvenience results from considering it to be a connective.
BUT, n.  [L. peto.]
1.  An end; a limit; a bound.  It is used particularly for the larger end of a thing, as of a piece of timber, or of a fallen tree; that which grows nearest the earth.  It is not often applied to the bound or limit of land; yet butted,for bounded, is often used.
2.  The end of a plank in a ship's side or bottom, which unites with another; generally written butt.
BUT, v.i.  To be bounded by; to lie contiguous to; a word used in America.  [See Abut.]


Topic: But-end
Definition:
BUT-END, n.  [but and end.]  The largest or blunt end of a thing; as the but-end of a musket or of a piece of timber.  This word is tautological, but and end signifying the same thing; unless but is considered as equivalent to swelling, protuberant.


Topic: Butcher
Definition:
BUTCH'ER, n.
1.  One who slaughters animals for market; or one whose occupation is to kill animals for the table.  The word may and often does include the person who cuts up and sells meat.
2.  One who kills men, or commands troops to kill them; one who sheds, or causes to be shed human blood in abundance; applied to princes and conquerors who delight in war, or are remarkable for destroying human life.
BUTCH'ER, v.t.  To kill or slaughter animals for food, or for market.
1.  To murder; but emphatically applied to murder committed with unusual cruelty, or circumstances of uncommon barbarity.


Topic: Butcher-bird
Definition:
BUTCH'ER-BIRD, n.  The shrike; a genus of birds, called Lanius.  One species of this genus is called king-bird, from its courage in attacking hawks and crows.
The king-bird is now arranged under the genus Muscicapa.


Topic: Butchers-broom
Definition:
BUTCH'ER'S-BROOM, n.  Ruscus; a genus of plants, called also knee-holly.  It is used by butchers for brooms to sweep their blocks.


Topic: Butchery
Definition:
BUTCH'ERY, n.  The business of slaughtering cattle for the table or for market.
1.  Murder, especially murder committed with unusual barbarity; great slaughter.
2.  The place where animals are killed for market; a shambles, or slaughter-house; also,a place where blood is shed.


Topic: Butler
Definition:
BUT'LER, n.  A servant or officer in the houses of princes and great men, whose principal business is to take charge of the liquors,place, &c.  Formerly, an officer in the court of France, being the same as the grand echanson or great cup-bearer of the present times.


Topic: Butlerage
Definition:
BUT'LERAGE, n.  A duty of two shillings on every ton of wine imported into England by foreigners or merchant strangers.  It was a composition for the privileges granted to them by king John and Edward I., and originally received by the crown; but is has been granted to certain noblemen. It was called butlerage, because originally paid to the king's butler for the king.


Topic: Butment
Definition:
BUT'MENT, n.
1.  A buttress of an arch; the supporter, or that part which joins it to the upright pier.
2.  The mass of stone or solid work at the end of a bridge,by which the extreme arches are sustained.  The mass of stone at the end of a timber bridge,without arches,is called by the same name.  It is written also abutment.


Topic: Butt
Definition:
BUTT, n.  [See But.]  Literally, end, furthest point.  Hence, a mark to be shot at; the point where a mark is set or fixed to be shot at.
1.  The point to which a purpose or effort is directed.
2.  The object of aim; the thing against which an attack is directed.  Hence,
3.  The person at whom ridicule,jests or contempt are directed; as the butt of ridicule.
4.  A push or thrust given by the head of an animal, as the butt of a ram; also, a thrust in fencing.
5.  A cask whose contents are 126 gallons of wine, or two hogsheads; called also a pipe.  A butt of beer is 108 gallons, and from 1500 to 2200 weight of currants is a butt.
6.  The end of a plank in a ship's side or bottom.
7.  A particular kind of hinge for doors, &c.
BUTT, v.i.  [L. peto.]  To thrust the head forward; to strike by thrusting the head against, as an ox or a ram.


Topic: Butter
Definition:
BUT'TER, n.  [L. butyrum.]  An oily substance obtained from cream or milk by churning.  Agitation separates the fat or oily part of milk from the thin or serous part, called butter-milk.
Butter, in the old chimistry, was applied to various preparations; as,
Butter of antimony, now called the sublimated muriate of antimony, and made by distilling a mixture of corrosive sublimate and the regulus.
Butter of arsenic, sublimated muriate of arsenic, made by a like process.
Butter of bismuth, sublimated muriate of bismuth.
Butter of tin, sublimated muriate of tin.
Butter of zink, sublimated muriate of zink.
Butter of cacao, is an oily concrete white matter obtained from the cacao nut, made by bruising the nut and boiling it in water.
Butter of wax, the oleaginous part of wax, obtained by distillation, and of a butyraceous consistence.
BUT'TER, v.t. To smear with butter.
1.  To increase the stakes at every throw or every game; a cant term among gamesters.


Topic: Butter-burr
Definition:
BUT'TER-BURR, n. A plant, a species of Tussilago, or Colt's-foot, called petasites, growing in wet land, with large leaves.


Topic: Butter-cups
Definition:
BUT'TER-CUPS, n.  A name given to a species of Ranunculus or crow-foot, with bright yellow flowers; called also golden-cup.


Topic: Butter-milk
Definition:
BUT'TER-MILK, n.  The milk that remains after the butter is separated from it.  Johnson calls this whey; but whey is the thin part of the milk after the curd or cheese is separated.  Butter-milk in America is not called whey.


Topic: Butterfly
Definition:
BUT'TERFLY, n. [from the color of a yellow species.]
Papilio, a genus of insects, of the order of lepidopters.  They have four wings imbricated with a kind of downy scales; the tongue is convoluted in a spiral form; and the body is hairy.  The species are numerous.  Butter-flies proceed from the crysalids of caterpillars; caterpillars proceed from eggs deposited by butterflies; they then change into crysalids, which produce butterflies, which again deposit their eggs.


Topic: Butternut
Definition:
BUT'TERNUT, n.  [butter and nut.]
The fruit of an American tree, the Juglans cinerea; so called from the oil it contains.  The tree bears a resemblance,in its general appearance, to the walnut, or black walnut, so called.  It is sometimes called oilnut and white walnut. The tree is called also butternut or butternut-tree.  Dr. M. Cutler calls it Juglans Cathartica. 


Topic: Butterwort
Definition:
BUT'TERWORT, n.  A species of Pinguicula, a plant growing on bogs or soft grounds.  The leaves are covered with soft pellucid prickles,which secrete a glutinous liquor; and milk, in which these are steeped, or washed, acquires, in a day or two, consistency, and is an agreeable food, used in the north of Sweden.


Topic: Buttery
Definition:
BUT'TERY, a.  [from butter.]  Having the qualities or appearance of butter.
BUT'TERY, n.  An apartment in a house, where butter, milk, provisions and utensils are kept. In some colleges, a room where liquors, fruit and refreshments are kept for sale to the students.


Topic: Buttock
Definition:
BUT'TOCK, n.  The rump,or the protuberant part behind.
1. The convexity of a ship behind, under the stern.


Topic: Button
Definition:
BUT'TON, n.  but'n.
1.  A knob; a small ball; a catch, used to fasten together the different parts of dress, made of metal, silk, mohair, wood, &c.
2. Any knob or ball fastened to another body; a small protuberant body.
3.  A bud; a gem of a plant.
4.  The button of the reins of a bridle, is a ring of leather, with the reins passed through, which runs along the length of the reins.
5.  A flat piece of wood, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten doors.
6. A small round mass of metal, found at the bottom of a crucible, in chimical experiments.
7.  The sea-urchin, an animal which has prickles instead of feet.
BUT'TON, v.t. but'n.  To fasten with a button, or buttons; to inclose, or make secure with buttons; often followed with up, as to button up a waistcoat.
1.  To dress or clothe. [Not used.]


Topic: Button-stone
Definition:
BUT'TON-STONE, n.  A species of figured stone, or hard flint, resembling a button, consisting of two bodies which appear to be the filling up of holes in a shell.  A species has been found finely striated, like a mohair button.  This name is given also to a species of slate found in the marquisate of Bareith.


Topic: Button-tree
Definition:
BUT'TON-TREE, n.  The Conocarpus, called also button-wood, a genus of plants, natives of the West-Indies.


Topic: Button-wood
Definition:
BUT'TON-WOOD, n.  The Cephalanthus, a shrub of N. America, growing five or six feet high.
1.  The Platanus Occidentalis, Western plane-tree, a large tree growing in N. America, producing rough balls, from which it is named.  The wood is hard, and used for windlasses, wheels and blocks.


Topic: Buttress
Definition:
BUT'TRESS, n.  [This word appears to be composed of but,end, and truss, or some word of that family.]
1.  A prop; a wall or abutment built archwise, serving to support another wall on the outside, when very high or loaded with a heavy superstructure.
2.  Any prop or support.
BUT'TRESS, v.t.  To support by a buttress; to prop.


Topic: Butts
Definition:
BUTTS, n. plu.  [from butt.]  A place where archers meet to shoot at mark.  Also, short pieces of land in arable ridges and furrows.


Topic: Buy
Definition:
BUY, v.t. pret. and pp. bought. pron. bawt.]
1.  To acquire the property, right or title to any thing, by paying a consideration or an equivalent in money.  It differs from barter only in this, that in barter the consideration or equivalent is some species of commodity; in purchase,the consideration is money paid or promised.  To purchase; to acquire by paying a price to the satisfaction of the seller; opposed to sell.
2.  To procure by a consideration given, or by something that is deemed worth the thing bought; to procure at a price; as, to buy pleasure with praise; to buy favor with flattery.
3.  To bribe; to corrupt or pervert the judgment, by paying a consideration.
To buy off, to influence to compliance; to cause to bend or yield by some consideration, as to buy off conscience; to detach by a consideration given, as to buy off one from a party.
To buy out, to buy off, or detach from.
1.  To purchase the share or shares of a person in a stock, fund, or partnership, by which the seller is separated from the company,and the purchaser takes his place, as, A buys out B. To purchase stock in any fund or partnership, is to buy in.
To buy on credit, is to purchase a thing, on a promise in fact or in law, to make payment at a future day.
To buy the refusal, is to give money for the right of purchasing at a fixed price at a future time.
To buy the small pox, in South Wales, is to receive it by inoculation.
In popular language, to buy is to pay dear for, as in Chaucer.
BUY, v.i.  To negotiate, or treat about a purchase.
I will buy with you and sell with you.


Topic: Buzz
Definition:
BUZZ, v.i.
1.  To make a low hissing sound, as bees; to make the sound of z, with an expiration of breath between the tongue and the roof of the mouth or upper teeth.
2.  To whisper; to speak with a low hissing voice; to make a low hissing sound.
BUZZ, v.t.  To whisper; to spread, as report, by whispers, or to spread secretly.
BUZZ, n.  The noise of bees; also,a whisper.


Topic: Buzzard
Definition:
BUZZ'ARD, n.  
1.  A species of falco, or hawk,the buteo; a rapacious,but sluggish bird; the breast usually of a yellowish white; the upper parts of a deep brown.  In some parts of America, it is called the great Hen-hawk, from its feeding on poultry.
2.  A block-head; a dunce.
BUZZ'ARD, a.  Senseless; stupid.


Topic: Buzzardet
Definition:
BUZZARDET', n.  A species of Falco or hawk, resembling the buzzard in most respects; but its legs are in proportion rather longer.


Topic: By
Definition:
BY, prep.
1.  Near; close; as, sit by me; that house stands by a river. 
[L. pressus.]
2.  Near, in motion; as, to move, go or pass by a church.  But it seems, in other phrases,or with a verb in the past time, to signify past, gone beyond.  'The procession is gone by;' 'the hour is gone by;' 'John went by.'  We now use past as an equivalent word.  The procession is gone past. Gone by is in strictness tautology, as now used; but I apprehend by signifies primarily near.
3.  Through, or with, denoting the agent, means, instrument or cause; as, 'a city is destroyed by fire;'  'profit is made by commerce;'  'to take by force.'  This use answers to that of the Latin per, through, denoting a passing, acting, agency, or instrumentality.
4.  'Day by day;' 'year by year;' 'article by article.'  In these phrases, by denotes passing from one to another, or each particular separately taken.
5.  'By the space of seven years.'  In this phrase, by denotes through, passing or continuing, during.
6.  'By this time, the sun had risen.'  The word here seems to denote, at, present or come to.
7.  According to; as, 'this appears by his own account;' 'these are good rules to live by.'
8.  On; as, 'to pass by land or water;' 'great battles by sea and land.'  In the latter phrase, at or on might be substituted for by.
9.  It is placed before words denoting quantity, measure or proportion; as, to sell by the pound; to work by the rod or perch; this line is longer by a tenth.
    10. It is used to represent the means or instrument of swearing, or affirming; as, to swear by heaven, or by earth; to affirm by all that is sacred.
    11. In the phrase, 'he has a cask of wine by him,' by denotes nearness or presence.
    12. 'To sit by one's self,' is to sit alone, or without company.
    13. 'To be present by attorney.'  In this phrase, by denotes means or instrument; through or in the presence of a substitute.
    14. In the phrase, 'North by West,'  the sense seems to be north passing to the west, inclining or going westward, or near west.
As an adverb, by denotes also nearness, or presence; as, there was no person by, at the time.  But some noun is understood.  So in the phrase, 'to pass or go by,' there is a noun understood.
By and by is a phrase denoting nearness in time; in a short time after; presently; soon.
When persecution ariseth, because of the word, by and by, he is offended.  Math.13.
By the by signifies, as we proceed or pass.
To stand by, is to stand near, or to support.
By in lullaby, and in the nursery, a word used in lulling infants to sleep, is evidently allied to words found in many languages, signifying to rest, or be quiet, or to appease; that is, to press, to stop. [L.paco.]
By or bye, in by-law.
In the common phrase, good-bye, bye signifies passing, going.  The phrase signifies, a good going, a prosperous passage, and it is precisely equivalent to farewell.
By is used in many compound words, in most of which we observe the sense of nearness, closeness, or a withdrawing or seclusion.


Topic: By-dependence
Definition:
BY-DEPEND'ENCE, n.  An appendage; that which depends on something else,or is distinct from the main dependence.


Topic: By-stander
Definition:
BY'-STANDER, n.  One who stands near; a spectator; one who has no concern with the business transacting.


Topic: Byssolite
Definition:
BYS'SOLITE,n.  [Gr. fine flax, and stone; so called from its resemblance to moss.]
A rare mineral, occurring in very delicate filaments, short, flexible and elastic.  Their color is olive green, or brownish yellow, and their luster a little silky.  Jameson places byssolite under actinolite; Hauy arranges it under amianthoid.


Topic: Byzantine
Definition:
BYZ'ANTINE, n.  [from Byzantium.]  A gold coin of the value of fifteen pounds sterling, so called from being coined at Byzantium.  Also, a piece of gold offered by the king on certain festivals.


Topic: C
Definition:
C, the third letter in the English alphabet, and the second articulation or consonant, is a palatal, nearly corresponding in sound with the Greek x, kappa, and with the Hebrew, caph.  It bears a middle place in pronunciation, between the aspirate, and the palatal.  It is a Roman character, borrowed from the Gr.x, or from the oriental, which was used in languages written from right to left, and when inverted and the corners rounded, becomes C.  In the old Etruscan, it was written with the corners rounded, but not inverted; in Arcadian, C, as now written.  That its sound in Latin was the same, or nearly the same, as that of kappa, may be known from the fact, that the Greeks, while the Latin was a living language, wrote kappa for the Roman C.  Perhaps the same character may be the basis of the Arabic.
As an abbreviature, C stands for Caius, Carolus, Caesar, condemno, &c., and CC for consulibus.  As a numeral C stands for 100; CC for 200; &c.  In music, C after the cliff, is the mark of common time. 
In English, C has two sounds, or rather it represents two very different articulations of the organs; one close, like K, which occurs before a, o and u; the other, a sibilant, precisely like s, which occurs before E, I and Y.  The former is distinguished in this vocabulary by C, which may be called ke.  In Russ. C is precisely the English s, as it was in the old Greek alphabet.


Topic: Cab
Definition:
CAB, n.  An oriental dry measure, being the sixth part of a seah or satum, and the eighteenth of an ephah; containing two pints and five sixths English and American corn measure.


Topic: Cabal
Definition:
CABAL, n.  
1.  A number of persons untied in some close design; usually to promote their private views in church or state by intrigue.  A junto.  It is sometimes synonymous with faction, but a cabal usually consists of fewer men than a party, and the word generally implies close union and secret intrigues.  This name was given to the ministry of Charles II., Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale, the initials of whose names compose the word.
2.  Intrigue; secret artifices of a few men united in a close design.


Topic: Cabala
Definition:
CABALA, [See the preceding word.  It is from the sense of reception.] Tradition, or a mysterious kind of science among Jewish Rabbins, pretended to have been delivered to the ancient Jews by revelation, and transmitted by oral tradition; serving for the interpretation of difficult passages of scripture.  This science consists chiefly in understanding the combination of certain letters, words and numbers, which are alleged to be significant.  Every letter, word, number and accent of the law is supposed to contain a mystery, and the cabalists pretend even to foretell future events by the study of this science.


Topic: Cabalist
Definition:
CABALIST, n.  
1.  A Jewish doctor who professes the study of the cabala, or the mysteries of Jewish traditions.
2.  In French commerce, a factor or agent.


Topic: Caballer
Definition:
CABALLER, n.  One who unites with others in close designs to effect an object by intrigue; one who cabals.


Topic: Caballine
Definition:
CABALLINE, a.  Pertaining to a horse; as caballine aloes, so called from its being given to horses as a purge.


Topic: Cabbage
Definition:
CABBAGE, n.  A genus of plants, called in botany Brassica, of several species; some of which are cultivated for food.  The leaves are large and fleshy, the pods long and slender, and the seeds globular.  The kinds most cultivated are the common cabbage, called with us the drum-head, the Savoy, the broccoli, the cauliflower, the sugar-loaf, and the cole-wort.
Dogs cabbage, a name given to the Thelygonum cynocrambe.  Fam. of Plants.
Sea-cabbage, n.  The sea-beach kale, or sea-colewort, a genus of plants, called crambe.  They are herbaceous esculents, with perennial roots, producing large leaves like those of cabbage, spreading on the ground.


Topic: Cabbage-tree
Definition:
CABBAGE-TREE, n.  The cabbage-palm, a species of Areca, the oleracea, a native of warm climates.  This tree grows with a straight stem to the height of 170 or 200 feet.  Its branches grow in a circular manner, and the lowermost ones spread horizontally with great regularity.  The fibers of the leaves are used for making cordage and nets.  On the top grows a substance called cabbage, lying in thin, snow-white, brittle flakes, in taste resembling an almond, but sweeter.  This is boiled and eaten with flesh, like other vegetables.  When this is cut out, the tree is destroyed.


Topic: Cabiai
Definition:
CABIAI, n.  An animal of South America resembling a hog, living on the margins of lakes and rivers, and feeding on fish.  It is a species of Cavy, called also thick-nosed tapir.


Topic: Cabin
Definition:
CABIN, n.
1.  A small room; an inclosed place.
2.  A cottage; a hut, or small house.
3.  A tent; a shed; any covered place for a temporary residence.
4.  An apartment in a ship for officers and passengers.  In large ships there are several cabins, the principal of which is occupied by the commander.  In small vessels, there is one cabin in the stern for the accommodation of the officers and passengers.  The bed-places in ships are also called cabins.
CABIN, v.i.  To live in a cabin; to lodge.
CABIN, v.t.  To confine in a cabin.


Topic: Cabinet
Definition:
CABINET, n.
1.  A closet; a small room, or retired apartment.
2.  A private room, in which consultations are held.
3.  The select or secret council of a prince or executive government; so called from the apartment in which it was originally held.
4.  A piece of furniture, consisting of a chest or box, with drawers and doors.  A private box.
5.  Any close place where things of value are reposited for safe keeping.
6.  A hut; a cottage; a small house.
CABINET, v.t.  To inclose.


Topic: Cabinet-council
Definition:
CABINET-COUNCIL, n.  
1.  A council held with privacy; the confidential council of a prince or executive magistrate.
2.  The members of a privy council; a select number of confidential counselors.


Topic: Cabinet-maker
Definition:
CABINET-MAKER, n.  A man whose occupation is to make cabinets, tables, bureaus, bed-steads, and other similar furniture.


Topic: Cable
Definition:
CABLE, n. cabl.  A large strong rope or chain, used to retain a vessel at anchor.  It is made usually of hemp or iron, but may be made of other materials.  Cables are of different sizes, according to the bulk of the vessel for which they are intended, from three to twenty inches in circumference.  A cable is composed of three strands; each strand of three ropes; and each rope of three twists.  A ships cable is usually 120 fathom, or 720 feet, in length.  Hence the expression, a cables length.
Stream cable is a hawser or rope, smaller than the bower cables, to moor a ship in a place sheltered from wind and heavy seas.
To pay out, or to veer out the cable, is to slacken it that it may run out of the ship.
To serve the cable, is to bind it round with ropes, canvas, &c., to prevent its being worn or galled in the hawse.
To slip the cable, is to let it run out end for end.


Topic: Cabure
Definition:
CABURE, n.  A Brazilian bird of the owl kind, of the size of a thrush, of a beautiful umber color, spotted with white.


Topic: Cacao
Definition:
CACAO or COCOA, n.  The chocolate-tree, a species of the Theobroma, a native of the West Indies.  This tree grows about twenty feet high, bearing pods which are oval and pointed.  The nuts or seeds are numerous, and lodged in a white pithy substance.


Topic: Cachalot
Definition:
CACHALOT, n.  A cetaceous fish, the physeter or spermaceti whale.  The principal species are, the black headed with a dorsal fin, and the round-headed with a dorsal fin, and the round-headed, with out a fin on the back, and with a fistula in the snout.  From this whale is obtained the spermaceti.


Topic: Cachexy
Definition:
CACHEXY, n.  A vicious state of the powers of the body; a deranged state of the constitution, without fever or nervous disease.


Topic: Cachinnation
Definition:
CACHINNATION, n.  A variety of chalcedony, which is a subspecies of quartz, usually milk white, some times grayish or yellowish white; opake or slightly translucent at the edges.  Its fracture is even, or conchoidal with large cavities, sometimes dull, sometimes pearly or glossy.  It often envelops common chalcedony; the two minerals being united by insensible shades.  It also associates with flint and semi-opal.


Topic: Cackerel
Definition:
CACKEREL, n.  A fish which is said to void excrements when pursued.  Others say, a fish which eaten produces lax bowels.


Topic: Cackle
Definition:
CACKLE, v.i.  
1.  To make a particular noise, as a goose or a hen.
2.  To laugh with a broken noise, like the cackling o a goose; to giggle, which is a word from the same root.
3.  To prate; to prattle; to tattle; to talk in a silly manner.
CACKLE, n.  
1.  The broken noise of a goose or hen.
2.  Idle talk; silly prattle.


Topic: Cackling
Definition:
CACKLING, ppr.  Making the noise of a goose or hen.
CACKLING, n.  The broken noise of a goose or hen.  Rome was saved by the cackling of a goose.


Topic: Cacochymy
Definition:
CACOCHYMY, n.  A vicious state of the vital humors, especially of the blood, arising from a disorder of the secretions or excretions, or from contagion.


Topic: Cacophony
Definition:
CACOPHONY, n.  
1.  In rhetoric, an uncouth or disagreeable sound of words, proceeding from the meeting of harsh letters or syllables.
2.  In medicine, a depraved voice; an altered state of the voice.
3.  In music, a combination of discordant sounds.


Topic: Cadaverous
Definition:
CADAVEROUS, a.
1.  Having the appearance or color of a dead human body; pale; wan; ghastly; as a cadaverous look.
2.  Having the qualities of a dead body.


Topic: Cade
Definition:
CADE, a.  Tame; bred by hand; domesticated; as a cade lamb.
CADE, v.t.  To bring up or nourish by hand, or with tenderness; to tame.
CADE, n.  A barrel or cask.  A cade of herrings is the quantity of five hundred; of sprats, a thousand.


Topic: Cade-oil
Definition:
CADE-OIL, n.  In the materia medica, an oil used in Germany and France, made of the fruit of the oxycedrus, called in those countries, cada.


Topic: Cadency
Definition:
CADENCY, n.  
1.  A fall, a decline; a state of sinking.
2.  A fall of the voice in reading or speaking, as at the end of a sentence; also, the falling of the voice in the general modulation of tones in reciting.  In reading or speaking, a certain tone is taken, which is called the key, or key-note, on which mot of the words are pronounced, and the fall of the voice below this tone is called cadence.
The ordinary cadence is a fall of the last syllable of a sentence only.
3.  The general tone of reading verse.  The cadence of one line must be a rule to that of the next; as the sound of the former must slide gently into that which follows.
4.  Tone; sound; as, hoarse cadence.
5.  In music, repose; the termination of a harmonical phrase on a repose or on a perfect chord.
Also, the manner of closing a song; embellishment at the close.
6.  In horsemanship, an equal measure or proportion observed by a horse in all his motions.
7.  In heraldry, the distinction of families.


Topic: Cadet
Definition:
CADET, n.
1.  The younger or youngest son.
2.  A gentleman who carries arms in a regiment, as a private mane, with a view to acquire military skill, and obtain a commission.  His service is voluntary, but he receives pay, and thus is distinguished from a volunteer.
3.  A young man, in a military school.


Topic: Cadi
Definition:
CADI, n.  In the Turkish dominions, a judge in civil affairs; usually the judge of a town or village, for the judge of a city or province is called Moula.


Topic: Cadmian
Definition:
CADMIAN, a.  Relating to Cadmus, a reputed prince of Thebes, who introduced into Greece, sixteen simple letters of the alphabet.  These are called Cadmean letters.
This personage may be a fabulous being, or if such a person ever existed, he may have been named from his knowledge of letters, for in the ancient Persian, Kadeem signified language; Ir. Cuadham, to tell or relate; ceadach, talkative; ceadal, a story.  Or he may have been name from his eminence or antiquity, kadam, to precede; Arabic, to excel; whence the sense of priority and antiquity; or his name may denote a man from the East.


Topic: Cadmium
Definition:
CADMIUM, n.  A metal discovered by M. Stromeyer, in 1817, in carbonate of zink, at Hanover.  Its color is a fine white, with a shade of bluish gray, resembling that of tin.  Its texture is compact, its fracture hackly, and it is susceptible of polish.  It is ductile and malleable, and when fused, crystalizes in octahedrons.  It melts below a red heat, and suffers no change in air.


Topic: Caduceus
Definition:
CADUCEUS, n.  In antiquity, Mercurys rod; a wand entwisted by two serpents, borne by Mercury as an ensign of quality and office.  On medals, the Caduceus is a symbol of good conduct, peace and prosperity.  The rod represents power; the serpents, wisdom; and the two wings, diligence and activity.


Topic: Caducous
Definition:
CADUCOUS, a.  In botany, falling early; as caducous leaves, which fall before the end of summer.  A caducous calyx falls before the corol is well unfolded.


Topic: Caer
Definition:
CAR, CAER, CHAR, in names of places, is sometimes the Celtic Caer, a town or city, as in Caermarthen.


Topic: Cagui
Definition:
CAGUI, n.  A monkey of Brazil, of two species, one of them called the pongi, the other not more than six inches long.  They are called also jacchus and oedipus.


Topic: Caissoon
Definition:
CAISSON, or CAISSOON, n.
1.  A wooden chest into which several bombs are put, and sometimes gunpowder, to be laid in the way of an enemy, or under some work of which the enemy intend to possess themselves, and to be fired when they get possession.
2.  A wooden frame or chest used in laying the foundation of the pier of a bridge.
3.  An ammunition chest, or waggon.


Topic: Cajeput
Definition:
CAJEPUT, n.  An oil from the East Indies, resembling that of cardamoms, obtained from the Melaleuca leucodendron.


Topic: Cake
Definition:
CAKE, n.  
1.  A small mass of dough baked; or a composition of flour, butter, sugar, or other ingredients, baked in a small mass.  The name is applied to various compositions, baked or cooked in different shapes.
2.  Something in the form of a cake, rather flat than high, but roundish; as a cake on a tree.
3.  A mass of matter concreted; as a cake of ice.
In New England, a piece of floating ice in a river or lake.
4.  A hard swelling on the flesh; or rather a concretion without such swelling.
CAKE, v.t.  To form into a cake or mass.
CAKE, v.i.  To concrete, or form into a had mass, as dough in an oven, or as flesh or any other substance.
CAKE, v.i.  To cackle.


Topic: Calabash
Definition:
CALABASH, n.  
1.  A vessel made of a dried gourd-shell or of the shell of a calabash tree, used for containing liquors, or goods, as pitch, rosin and the like.
2.  A popular name of the gourd-plant, or Cucurbita.


Topic: Calabash-tree
Definition:
CALABASH-TREE, n.  A tree of two species, known in botany by the generic name Crescentia.  The cujete has narrow leaves, but a large round or oval fruit.  The latifolia has broad leaves.  The shell of the fruit is used for cups, bowls, dishes and other utensils.


Topic: Calamar
Definition:
CALAMAR, n.  An animal, having an oblong body and ten legs.  On the belly are two bladders containing a black fluid, which the animal emits when pursued.  It is called also sea-sleeve and cuttle-fish.


Topic: Calambac
Definition:
CALAMBAC, n.  Aloes-wood, xyloe-aloes, a drug, which is the product of a tree growing in China and some of the Indian isles.  It is of a light spungy texture, very porous, and the pores so filled with a soft fragrant resin, that it may be indented by the fingers and chewed like mastich.  It is also called tambac.  The two coarser kinds are called lignum aloes, and calambour.


Topic: Calambour
Definition:
CALAMBOUR, n.  A species of the aloes-wood, of a dusky or mottled color, of a light, friable texture, and less fragrant than calambac.  This wood is used by cabinet-makers and inlayers.


Topic: Calamin
Definition:
CALAMINE, or CALAMIN, n.  Lapis calaminaris, or cadmia fossilis; an ore of zink, much used in the composition of brass.  This term is applied both to the siliceous oxyd and the native carbonate of zink.  They an scarcely be distinguished by their external characters.  They are generally compact, often stalactitic, and sometimes crystalized.  Most of the calamines of England and Scotland are said to be carbonates.


Topic: Calamint
Definition:
CALAMINT, n.  A plant, a species of Melissa, or baum, an aromatic plant, and a weak corroborant.
Water-calamint is a species of Mentha, or mint.


Topic: Calamit
Definition:
CALAMIT, n.  A mineral, probably a variety of Tremolite.  It occurs in imperfect or rounded prismatic crystals, longitudinally striated, and sometimes resembling a reed.  Its structure is foliated; its luster vitreous, and more or less shining.


Topic: Calamitous
Definition:
CALAMITOUS, a.  
1.  Very miserable; involved in deep distress; oppressed with infelicity; wretched from misfortune; applied to men.
2.  Producing distress and misery; making wretched; applied to external circumstances; as a calamitous event.
3.  Full of misery; distressful; wretched; applied to state or condition.


Topic: Calamity
Definition:
CALAMITY, n.  Any great misfortune, or cause of misery; generally applied to events or disasters which produce extensive evils, as loss of crops, earthquakes, conflagrations, defeat of armies, and the like.  But it is applied also to the misfortunes which bring great distress upon individuals.
The deliberations of calamity are rarely wise.


Topic: Calamus
Definition:
CALAMUS, n.  
1.  The generic name of the Indian cane, called also rotang.  It is without branches, has a crown at the top, and is beset with spines.
2.  In antiquity, a pipe or fistula, a wind instrument, made of a reed or oaten stalk.
3.  A rush or reed used anciently as a pen to write on parchment or papyrus.
4.  A sort of reed, or sweet-scented cane, used by the Jews as a perfume.  It is a knotty root, reddish without and white within, and filled with a spungy substance.  It has an aromatic smell.
5.  The sweet flag, called by Linne Acorus.


Topic: Calander
Definition:
CALANDRE or CALANDER, n.  The French name of a species of insect of the beetle kind, very destructive in granaries.


Topic: Calandra
Definition:
CALANDRA, n.  A species of lark, with a thick bill, the upper part of the body of a reddish brown, spotted with black, with a body thicker than the sky-lark.


Topic: Calash
Definition:
CALASH, n.  
1.  A light chariot or carriage with very low wheels, used for taking the air in parks and gardens.  It is open, or covered with mantles of cloth, that are let down at pleasure.
2.  A cover for the head sometimes used by ladies.


Topic: Calcar
Definition:
CALCAR, n.  In glass works, a kind of oven, or reverberating furnace, used for the calcination of sand and salt of potash, and converting them into frit.


Topic: Calcarate
Definition:
CALCARATE, a.  Furnished with a spur; as a calcarate corol, in larksupr; a calcarate nectary, a nectary resembling a cocks spur.


Topic: Calcario-sulphurous
Definition:
CALCARIO-SULPHUROUS, adjective [See Calx. and Sulphur.] Having lime and sulphur in combination, or partaking of both.


Topic: Calcarious
Definition:
CALCARIOUS, a.  Partaking of the nature of lime; having the qualities of lime; as calcarious earth or stone.


Topic: Calcedon
Definition:
CALCEDON, n. [See Chalcedony.] With jewelers, a foul vein, like chalcedony, in some precious stones.


Topic: Calciferous
Definition:
CALCIFEROUS, a. [of calx, lime, and muria, salt water.] A species of earth, of the muriatic genus, of a blue or olive green color, of the consistence of clay.  It consists of calcarious earth and magnesia tinged with iron.


Topic: Calcinable
Definition:
CALCINABLE, a. [See Calcine.] That may be calcined; capable of being reduced to a friable state by the action of fire.


Topic: Calcination
Definition:
CALCINATION, n. [from calcine.] 
1.  The operation of expelling from a substance by heat, some volatile matter with which it is combined, or which is the cementing principle, and thus reducing it to a friable state.  Thus chalk and carbonate of lime are reduced to lime by calcination, or the expulsion of carbonic acid.
2.  The operation of reducing a metal to an oxyd, or metallic calx.  This is modern chemistry is called oxidation.


Topic: Calcine
Definition:
CALCINE, v.t.
1.  To reduce a substance to a powder or to a friable state, by the action of heat; or to expel from a substance some volatile matter, combined with it, or forming its cementing principle, as the carbonic acid from limestone, or the water of crystalization from salts.
2.  To oxydize, as a metal; to reduce to a metallic calx.
3.  To dissolve; to destroy the principles which unite.
CALCINE, v.i.  To be converted into a powder or friable substance, or into a calx, by the action of heat.


Topic: Calculalation
Definition:
CALCULALATION, n.  
1.  The art, practice or manner of computing by numbers.  The use of numbers, by addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, for the purpose of arriving at a certain result.  Thus computations in astronomy and geometry for making tables of numbers are called calculations.
2.  The result of an arithmetical operation; computation; reckoning.
3.  Estimate formed in the mind by comparing the various circumstances and facts which influence its determination.


Topic: Calculary
Definition:
CALCULARY, n.  A congeries of little stony knots dispersed through the parenchyma of the pear and other fruits, formed by concretions of the sap.


Topic: Calculate
Definition:
CALCULATE, v.t.  
1.  To compute; to reckon; to add, subtract, multiply or divide any sums, for the purpose of finding the amount, difference, or other result.  This, to calculate the expenses of erecting a house, is to estimate and add together the several sums which each part of the materials and the work will cost.
2.  To ascertain by the use of tables or numbers; as, to calculate an eclipse.
3.  To form tables upon mathematical principles, as logarithms, ephemerides, &c.
4.  To compute the situation of the planets at a certain time, for astrological purposes; as, to calculate the birth of a person.
5.  To adjust by computation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of the means to the end; as, to calculate a system of laws for a free people.  Religion is calculated for our benefit.
CALCULATE, v.i.  To make a computation; as, we calculate better for ourselves than for others.
In popular use, this word is often equivalent to intend or purpose, that is, to make arrangements, and form a plan; as, a man calculated to go a journey.  This use of the word springs from the practice of computing or estimating the various circumstances which concur to influence the mind in forming its determinations.


Topic: Calculator
Definition:
CALCULATOR, n.  One who computes or reckons; one who estimates or considers the force and effect of causes, with a view to form a correct estimate of the effects.


Topic: Calculous
Definition:
CALCULOUS, a. [Supra.] 
1.  Stony; gritty; hard like stone; as a calculous concretion.
2.  In mathematics; Differential calculus, is the arithmetic of the infinitely small differences of variable quantities; the method of differencing quantities, or of finding an infinitely small quantity, which, being taken infinite times, shall be equal to a given quantity.  This coincides with the doctrine of fluxions.
3.  Exponential calculus, is a method of differencing exponential quantities; or of finding and summing up the differentials or moments of exponential quantities; or at least of bringing them to geometrical constructions.
4.  Integral calculus, is a method of integrating or summing u moments or differential quantities; the inverse of the differential calculus.
5.  Literal calculus, is specious arithmetic or algebra.


Topic: Caldron
Definition:
CALDRON, n.  A large kettle or boiler, of copper, or other metal, furnished with a movable handle or bail, with which to hang it on a chimney hook.


Topic: Caledonian
Definition:
CALEDONIAN, a.  Pertaining to Caledonia, an ancient name of Scotland.  The termination ia, signifies a country, and was added by the Romans.  Caledon signifies probably, the hill or town of the Gaels, or Caels, the primitive inhabitants.
CALEDONIAN, n.  A native of Caledonia, now Scotland.


Topic: Calefacient
Definition:
CALEFACIENT, a. [See Calefaction, Calefy.] Warming; heating.
CALEFACIENT, n.  That which warms or heats.  


Topic: Calefaction
Definition:
CALEFACTION, n.  
1.  The act or operation of warming or heating; the production of heat in a body by the action of fire, or by the communication of heat from other bodies.
2.  The state of being heated.


Topic: Calendar
Definition:
CALENDAR, n.  
1.  A register of the year, in which the months, weeks, and days are set down in order, with the feasts observed by the church, &c.; an almanack.  It was so named from the Roman Calendoe, the name given to the first day of the month, and written, in large letters, at the head of each month.  [See Calends.]
2.  A list of prisoners in the custody of the sheriff.
3.  An orderly table or enumeration of persons of things.  Calendar-month, a solar month as it stands in Almanacks.
CALENDAR, v.t.  To enter or write in a calendar.


Topic: Calender
Definition:
CALENDER, v.t.  To press between rollers, for the purpose of making smooth, glossy and wavy; as woolen and silk stuffs and linens.
CALENDER, n.  A machine or hot press, used in manufactories to press cloths, for the purpose of making them smooth, even and glossy, laying the nap, watering them and giving them a wavy appearance.  It consists of two thick rollers or cylinders, placed between boards or planks, the lower one being fixed, the upper one movable, and loaded with a great weight.


Topic: Calends
Definition:
CALENDS, n. plu.  Among the Romans, the fist day of each month.  The origin of this name is differently related.  Varro supposes it to have originated in the practice of notifying the time of the new moon, by a priest who called out or proclaimed the fact, to the people, and the number of the calends, or the day of the nones.  Others alledge that the people be convened, the pontifex proclaimed the several feasts or holidays in the month; a custom which was discontinued in the year of Rom 450, when the fasti or calendar was set up in public places, to give notice of the festivals.


Topic: Calenture
Definition:
CALENTURE, n.  A violent ardent fever, incident to persons in hot climates, especially natives of cooler climates.  It is attended with delirium, and one of the symptoms is, that the person affected imagines the sea to be a green field, and sometimes attempting to walk in it, is lost.


Topic: Calf
Definition:
CALF, n.
1.  The young of the cow, or of the bovine genus of quadrupeds.
2.  In contempt, a dolt; an ignorant, stupid person; a weak or cowardly man.
3.  The thick fleshy part of the leg behind; so called from its protuberance.
4.  The calves of the lips, in Hosea, signify the pure offerings of prayer, praise and thanks-giving.


Topic: Caliber
Definition:
CALIBER, n.  
1.  The diameter of a body; as the caliber of a column, or of a bullet.
2.  The bore of a gun, or the extent of its bore.
Caliber-compasses, calibers, or callipers, a sort of compasses made with arched legs to take the diameter of round bodies, as masts, shot, &c.  The legs move on an arch of brass, on which are marked the inches and half inches, to show how far the points of the compasses are opened asunder.
Caliber-rule, Gunners Callipers, an instrument in which a right line is so divided as that the first part being equal to the diameter of an iron or leaden ball of one pound weight, the other parts are to the first as the diameters of balls of two, three, four, &c. Pounds, are to the diameter of a ball of one pound.  It is used by engineers, to determine, from a balls weight, its diameter or caliber and vice versa.


Topic: Calice
Definition:
CALICE, n.  A cup appropriately, a communion cup, or vessel used to administer the wine in the sacrament of the Lords supper.  It is used by the Roman Catholics in the mass.


Topic: Calico
Definition:
CALICO, n. [said to be from Calicut, in India.] Cotton cloth.  In England, white or unprinted cotton cloth is called calico.  In the United States, calico is printed cotton cloth, having not more than two colors.  I have never heard this name given to the unprinted cloth.  Calico was originally imported from India, but is now manufactured in Europe and the United States.


Topic: Caliduct
Definition:
CALIDUCT, n.  Among the Ancients, a pipe or canal used to convey heat from a furnace to the apartments of a house.


Topic: Calif
Definition:
CALIF, n.  Written also caliph and kalif.  A successor or vicar; a representative of Mohammed, bearing the same relation to him as the Pope pretends to bear to St. Peter.  Among the Saracens, or Mohammedans, a calif is one who is vested with supreme dignity and power in all matters relating to religion and civil policy.  This title is borne by the Grand Signior in Turkcy, and by the Sophi of Persia.


Topic: Calin
Definition:
CALIN, n.  A compound metal, of which the Chinese make tea canisters and the like.  The ingredients seem to be lead and tin.


Topic: Calk
Definition:
CALK, v.t. cauk.
1.  To drive oakum or old ropes untwised, into the seams of a ship or other vessel, to prevent their leaking, or admitting water.  After the seams are filled, they are covered with hot melted pitch or rosin, to keep the oakum from rotting.
2.  In some parts of America, to set upon a horse or ox shoes armed with sharp points of iron, to prevent their slipping on ice; that is, to stop from slipping.
CALK, n.  Cauk.  In New-England, a sharp pointed piece of iron on a shoe for a horse or an ox, called in Great Britain calking; used to prevent the animal from slipping.


Topic: Calking
Definition:
CALKING, n.  Cauking.  In painting, the covering of the back side of a design with black lead, or red chalk, and tracing lines through on a waxed plate or wall or other matter, by passing lightly over each stroke of the design with a point, which leaves an impression of the color on the plate or wall.


Topic: Call
Definition:
CALL, v.t. [Heb. To hold or restrain.] In a general sense, to drive; to strain or force out sound.  Hence,
1.  To name; to denominate or give a name.  And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.  Gen. 1.
2.  To convoke; to summon; to direct or order to meet; to assemble by order or public notice; often with together; as, the king called his council together; the president called together the congress.
3.  To request to meet or come.  
He sent his servants to call them that were bidden.  Math. 22. 
4.  To invite.
Because I have called and ye refused.  Prov. 1.
5.  To invite or summon to come or be present; to invite, or collect.
Call all your senses to you.
6.  To give notice to come by authority; to command to come; as, call a servant.
7.  To proclaim; to name, or publish the name.
Nor parish clerk, who calls the psalm so clear.
8.  To appoint or designate, as for an office, duty or employment.
See, I have called by name Bezaleel.  Ex. 31.
Paul called to be an apostle.  Rom. 1.
9.  To invite; to warn; to exhort.  Is. 22:12.
10.  To invite or draw into union with Christ; to bring to know, believe and obey the gospel.  Rev. 8:28
11.  To own and acknowledge.  Heb. 2:11.
12.  To invoke or appeal to.
I call God for a record.  2 Cor. 1.
13.  To esteem or account.  Is. 47:5.  Mat. 3:15.
To call down, to invite, or to bring down.
To call back, to revoke, or retract; to recall; to summon or bring back.
To call for, to demand, require or claim, as a crime calls for punishment; or to cause to grow.  Ezek. 36.  Also, to speak for; to ask; to request; as, to call for a dinner.
To call in, to collect, as to call in debts or money; or to draw from circulation, as to call in clipped coin; or to summon together; to invite to come together; as, to call in neighbors or friends.
To call forth, to bring or summon to action; as, to call forth all the faculties of the mind.
To call off, to summon away; to divert; as, to call off the attention; to call off workmen from their employment.
To call up, to bring into view or recollection; as, to call u the image of a deceased friend; also, to bring into action, or discussion; as, to call up a bill before a legislative body.
To call over, to read a list, name by name; to recite separate particulars in order, as a roll of names.
To call out, to summon to fight; to challenge; also, to summon into service; as, to call out the militia.
To call to mind, to recollect; to revive in memory.
CALL, v.i.  
1.  To utter a loud sound, or to address by name; to utter the name; sometimes with to.
The angel of God called to Hagar.  Gen. 21.
2.  To stop, without intention of staying; to make a short stop; as, to call at the inn.  This use Johnson supposes to have originated in the custom of denoting ones presence at the door by a call.  It is common, in this phrase, to use at, as to call at the inn; or on, as to call on a friend.  This application seems to be equivalent to speak, D. Kallen.  Let us speak at this place.
To call on, to make a short visit to; also, to solicit payment, or make a demand of a debt.  In a theological sense, to pray to or worship; as, to call on the name of the Lord.  Gen. 4.  To repeat solemnly.
To call out, to utter a loud voice; to bawl; a popular use of the phrase.
CALL, n.  
1.  A vocal address, of summons or invitation; as, he will not come at a call.
2.  Demand; requisition; public claim; as, listen to the calls of justice or humanity.
3.  Divine vocation, or summons; as the call of Abraham.
4.  Invitation; request of a public body or society; as, a clergyman has a call to settle in the ministry.
5.  A summons from heaven; impulse.
St. Paul believed he had a call, when he persecuted the Christians.
6.  Authority; command.
7.  A short visit; as, to make a call; to give one a call that is, a speaking to; D. Kallen.  To give one a call, is to stop a moment and speak or say a word; or to have a short conversation with.
8.  Vocation; employment.  In this sense calling is generally used.
9.  A naming; a nomination.
10.  Among hunters, a lesson blown on the horn, to comfort the hounds.
11.  Among seamen, a whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate, to summon the sailors to their duty.
12.  The English name of the mineral called by the Germans tungsten or wolfram.
13.  Among fowlers, the noise or cry of a fowl, or a pipe to call birds by imitating their voice.
14.  In legislative bodies, the call of the house, is a calling over the names of the members, to discover who is absent or for other purpose; a calling of names with a view to obtain answers from the person named.  


Topic: Calling
Definition:
CALLING, n.  
1.  A naming, or inviting; a reading over or reciting in order, or a call of names with a view to obtain an answer, as in legislative bodies.
2.  Vocation; profession; trade; usual occupation, or employment.
Pope.  Swift.  1 Cor. 7:20
3.  Class of persons engaged in any profession or employment.
4.  Divine summons, vocation, or invitation.
Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure.  2 Pet. 1.


Topic: Calliope
Definition:
CALLIOPE, n.  Calliopy.  In Pagan mythology, the muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry.


Topic: Callix
Definition:
CALLIX, n.  
1.  A cup
2.  The membrane which covers the papillae in the pelvis of the human kidney.  But it seem to be erroneously used for calyx, which see.


Topic: Callous
Definition:
CALLOUS, a.
1.  Hard; hardened; indurated; as an ulcer or some part of the body.
2.  Hardened in mind; insensible; unfeeling.


Topic: Callousness
Definition:
CALLOUSNESS, n.  Hardness, induration, applied to the body; insensibility, applied to the mind or heart.


Topic: Callus
Definition:
CALLUS, n.  Any cutaneous, corneous, or bony hardness, but generally the new growth of osseous matter between the extremities of fractured bones, serving to unite them; also a hardness in the skin; a hard, dense, insensible knob on the hands, feet, &c.


Topic: Calm
Definition:
CALM, a. 
1.  Still; quiet; being at rest; as the air.  Hence not stormy or tempestuous; as a calm day.
2.  Undisturbed; not agitated; as a calm sea.
3.  Undisturbed by passion; not agitated or excited; quiet; tranquil; as the mind, temper, or attention.
CALM, n.  Stillness; tranquillity; quiet; freedom from motion, agitation, or disturbance; applied to the elements, or the mind and passions.
CALM, v.t.  To still; to quiet; as the wind, or elements; to still, appease, allay or pacify, as the mind, or passions.


Topic: Calmer
Definition:
CALMER, n.  The person or thing that calms, or has the power to till, and make quiet; that which allays or pacifies.


Topic: Calmly
Definition:
CALMLY, adv.  In a quiet manner; without disturbance, agitation, tumult, or violence; without passion; quietly.


Topic: Calmness
Definition:
CALMNESS, n.  
1.  Quietness; stillness; tranquillity; applied to the elements.
2.  Quietness; mildness; unruffled state; applied to the mind, passions or temper.


Topic: Calogeri
Definition:
CALOYERS, or CALOGERI, n.  Monks of the Greek church, of three orders; archari, or novices; ordinary professed, or microchemi; and the more perfect, called megalochemi.  They are also divided into cenobites, who are employed in reciting their offices, from midnight to sunrise; anchorets, who retire and live in hermitages; and recluses, who shut themselves up in grottos and caverns, on the mountains, and live on alms furnished to them by the monasteries.


Topic: Calomel
Definition:
CALOMEL, n.  A preparation of mercury, much used in medicine.  It is called the submuriate or protochloride of mercury, and is prepared in various ways, by sublimation or precipitation, and also in the dry way.  The following are the directions given in the last London Pharmacopoeia.  Take of muriated quicksilver one pound, and of purified quicksilver, nine ounces; rub them together till the globules disappear; then sublime, and repeat the sublimation twice more successively.


Topic: Caloric
Definition:
CALORIC, n.  The principle or matter of heat, or the simple element of heat.  Caloric may be defined, the agent to which the phenomena of heat and combustion are ascribed.  Caloric expands all bodies.
CALORIC, a.  Pertaining to the matter of heat.


Topic: Calorimeter
Definition:
CALORIMETER, n.  An apparatus for measuring relative quantities of heat, or the specific caloric of bodies; or an instrument for measuring the heat given out by a body in cooling, from the quantity of ice it melts, invented by Lavoisier and Laplace.


Topic: Calorimotor
Definition:
CALORIMOTOR, n.  A galvanic instrument, in which the calorific influence or effects are attended by scarcely any electrical power.


Topic: Calote
Definition:
CALOTE, n.
1.  A cap or coif, of hair, satin or other stuff, worn in popish countries, as an ecclesiastical ornament.
2.  In architecture, a round cavity or depression, in form of a cup or cap, lathed and plastered, used to diminish the elevation of a chapel, cabinet, alcove, &c., which would otherwise be too high for other pieces of the apartment.


Topic: Calp
Definition:
CALP, n.  A subspecies of carbonate of lime, of a bluish black, gray or grayish blue, but its streak is white, called also argillo-fer-ruginous limestone.  It is intermediate between compact limestone and marl.


Topic: Caltrop
Definition:
CALTROP, n.
1.  A kind of thistle, the Latin tribulus, with a roundish prickly pericarp; on one side, gibbous, often armed with three or four daggers; on the other side, angular, converging with transverse cells.  It grows in France, Italy and Spain, among corn, and is very troublesome, as the prickles run into the feet of cattle.
2.  In military affairs, an instrument with four iron points, disposed in a triangular form, so that three of them being on the ground, the other points upward.  These are scattered on the ground where an enemys cavalry are to pass, to impede their progress by endangering the horses feet.


Topic: Calumet
Definition:
CALUMET, n.  Among the aboriginals of America, a pipe, used for smoking tobacco, whose bowl is usually of soft red marble, and the tube a long reed, ornamented with feathers.  The calumet is used as a symbol or instrument of peace and war.  To accept the calumet, is to agree to the terms of peace, and to refuse it, is to reject them.  The calumet of peace is used to seal or ratify contracts and alliances, to receive strangers kindly, and to travel with safety.  The calumet of war, differently made, is used to proclaim war.


Topic: Calumniate
Definition:
CALUMNIATE, v.t. [See Calumny.] To accuse or charge one falsely, and knowingly, with some crime, offense, or something, disreputable; to slander.
CALUMNIATE, v.i.  To charge falsely and knowingly with a crime or offense; to propagate evil reports with a design to injure the reputation of another.


Topic: Calumniated
Definition:
CALUMNIATED, pp.  Slandered; falsely and maliciously accused of what is criminal, immoral, or disgraceful.


Topic: Calumniation
Definition:
CALUMNIATION, n.  False accusation of a crime or offense, or a malicious and false representation of the words or actions of another, with a view to injure his good name.


Topic: Calumniator
Definition:
CALUMNIATOR, n.  One who slanders; one who falsely and knowingly accuses another of a crime or offense, or maliciously propagates false accusations or reports.


Topic: Calumny
Definition:
CALUMNY, n.  Slander; false accusation of a crime or offense, knowingly or maliciously made or reported, to the injury of another; false representation of facts reproachful to another, made by design, and with knowledge of its falsehood; sometimes followed by on.  Neglected calumny soon expires.


Topic: Calvary
Definition:
CALVARY, n.
1.  A place of skulls; particularly, the place where Christ was crucified, on a small hill west of Jerusalem.  In catholic countries, a kind of chapel raised on a hillock near a city, as a place of devotion, in memory of the place where our Savior suffered.
2.  In heraldry, a cross so called, set upon steps, resembling the cross on which our Savior was crucified.


Topic: Calve
Definition:
CALVE, v.i.
1.  To bring forth young, as a cow.
2.  In a metaphorical sense, and sometimes by way of reproach, as when applied to the human race, to bring forth; to produce.


Topic: Calvinish
Definition:
CALVINISH, n.  The theological tenets or doctrines of Calvin, who was born in Picardy in France, and in 1536, chosen professor of divinity, and minister of a church in Geneva.  The distinguishing doctrines of this system are, original sin, particular election and reprobation, particular redemption, effectual grace in regeneration, or a change of heart by the spirit of God, justification by free grace, perseverance of the saints, and the trinity.


Topic: Calx
Definition:
CALX, n.  Properly lime or chalk; but more appropriately, the substance of a metal or mineral which remains after being subjected to violent heat, burning, or calcination, solution by acids, or detonation by niter, and which is or may be reduced to a fine powder.  Metallic calxes are now called oxyds.  They are heavier than the metal from which they are produced, being combined with oxygen.
Calx nativa, native calx, a kind of marly earth, of a dead whitish color, which, in water, bubbles or hisses, and without burning, will make a cement, like lime or gypsum.
Calx viva, quick-lime, is lime not slaked.


Topic: Calycle
Definition:
CALYCLE, n.  In botany, a row of small leaflets, at the base of the calyx, on the outside.  The calycle of the seed is the outer proper covering or crown of the seed, adhering to it, to facilitate its dispersion.


Topic: Calypter
Definition:
CALYPTER, n.  The calyx of mosses, according to Linne; but not properly a calyx.  It is a kind of vail, or cowl, which cove or is suspended over the tops of the stamens, like an extinguisher.
The calyptra of mosses is an appendage of the capsule or female flower.  It at first closely invests the capsule, and its summit is the stigma.  As the capsule approaches maturity, the calyptra is detached below, and appended to the stigma like a hood.


Topic: Calyx
Definition:
CALYX, n. plu.  calyxes.  The outer covering of a flower, being the termination of the cortical epidermis or outer bark of the plant, which, in most plants, incloses and supports the bottom of the corol.  In Linnes system, it comprehends the perianth, the involucrum, the ament, the spath, the glume, the calyptra, and the volva.  But in general it signifies the perianth, and the leaves are generally green.
The opinion of Linne that the calyx is the continuation of the epidermis is now considered erroneous.


Topic: Camaieu
Definition:
CAMEO, CAMAIEU, OR CAMAYEU, n.  A peculiar sort of onyx; also, a stone on which are found various figures and representations of landscapes, a kind of lusus naturae, exhibiting pictures without painting.  The word is said to be the oriental camehuia, a name given to the onyx, when they find, in preparing it, another color; as who should say, another color.
The word is applied by others to those precious stones, onyxes, carnelians and agates, on which lapidaries employ their art, to aid nature and perfect the figures.
The word is also applied to any gem on which figures may be engraved.
The word signifies also a painting in which there is only one color, and where the lights and shadows are of gold, wrought on a golden or azure ground.  When the ground is yellow, the French call it cirage; when gray, grisaille.  This work is chiefly used to represent bassorelievos.
Camera obscura, or dark chamber, in optics, an apparatus representing an artificial eye, in which the images of external objects, received through a double convex glass, are exhibited distinctly, and in their native colors, on a white matter, placed within the machine, in the focus of the glass.


Topic: Camber
Definition:
CAMBER, n.  Among builders, camber or camber-beam is a piece of timber cut archwise, or with an obtuse angle in the middle, used in platforms, where long and strong beams are required.  As a verb, this word signifies to bend, but I know not that it is used.
A cambered-deck, is one which is higher in the middle, or arched, but drooping or declining  towards the stem and stern; also, when it is irregular.


Topic: Cambric
Definition:
CAMBRIC, n.  A species of fine white linen, made of flax, said to be named from Cambray in Flanders, where it was first manufactured.


Topic: Came
Definition:
CAME, pret. of come, which see.
CAME, n.  A slender rod of cast lead, of which glaziers make their turned lead.


Topic: Camel
Definition:
CAMEL, n.  
1.  A large quadruped used in Asia and Africa for carrying burdens, and for riders.  As genus, the camel belongs to the order of Pecora.  The characteristics are; it has no horns; it has six fore teeth in the under jaw; the canine teeth are wide set, three in the upper and two in the lower jaw; and there is a fissure in the upper lip.  The dromedary of Arabian camel, has one bunch on the back, four callous protuberances on the fore legs and two on the hind legs.  The Bactrian camel has two bunches on the back.  The Llama of South America is a smaller animal, with a smooth back, small head, fine black eyes, and very long neck.  The Pacos or sheep of Chili his no bunch.  Camels constitute the riches of an Arabian, without which he could neither subsist, carry on trade nor travel over sandy desarts.  Their milk is his common food.  By the camels power of sustaining abstinence rom drink, for many days, and of subsisting on a few coarse shrubs, he is peculiarly fitted for the parched and barren lands of Asia and Africa.
2.  In Holland, Camel, [or Kameel, as Coxe writes it,] is a machine for lifting ships, and bearing them over the Pampus, at the mouth of the river Y, or over other bars.  It is also used in other places, and particularly at the dock in Petersburg, to bear vessels over a bar to Cronstadt.


Topic: Camel-backed
Definition:
CAMEL-BACKED, a.  Having a back like a camel.
Cameleon mineral. [See Chameleon.] A compound of pure potash and black oxyd of manganese, fused together, whose solution in water, at first green, passes spontaneously through the whole series of colored rays to the red; and by the addition of potash, it returns to its original green.


Topic: Camelopard
Definition:
CAMELOPARD, n. [camelus and pardalis.] The giraff, a species constituting the genus Camelopardalis.  This animal has two straight horns, without branches, six inches long, covered with hair, truncated at the end and tufted.  On the forehead, is a tubercle, two inches high, resembling another horn.  The fore legs are not much longer than the hind ones, but the shoulders are of such a vast length, as to render the fore part of the animal much higher than the hind part.  The head is like that of a stag; the neck is slender and elegant, furnished with a short mane.  The color of the whole animal is a dirty white marked with large broad rusty spots.  This animal is found in the central and eastern parts of Africa.  It is timid and not fleet.


Topic: Cameralistics
Definition:
CAMERALISTICS, n.  The science of finance or public revenue, comprehending the means of raising and disposing of it.


Topic: Camisade
Definition:
CAMISADE, n.  An attack by surprise, at night, or at break of day, when the enemy is supposed to be in bed.  This word is said to have taken its rise from an attack of this kind, in which the soldiers, as a badge to distinguish each other by, bore a shirt over their arms.


Topic: Camlet
Definition:
CAMLET, n.  A stuff originally made of camels hair.  It is now made, sometimes of wool, sometimes of silk, sometimes of hair, especially that of goats, with wool or silk.  In some, the warp is silk and wool twisted together, and the woof is hair.  The pure oriental camlet is made solely from the hair of a sort of goat, about Angora.  Camlets are now make in Europe.


Topic: Camomile
Definition:
CAMOMILE, n. A genus of plants, Anthemis, of many species. It has a chaffy receptacle; the calyx is hemispheric and subequal, and the florets of the ray are more than five. The common sort is a trailing perennial plant, has a strong aromatic smell, and a bitter nauseous taste. It is accounted carminative, aperient, and emollient.


Topic: Camp
Definition:
CAMP, n.
1.  The ground on which an army pitch their tents, whether for a night or a longer time.
2.  The order or arrangement of tents, or disposition of an army, for rest; as, to pitch a camp.  Also, the troops encamped on the same field.
3.  An army.
CAMP, v.t. or I.  To rest or lodge, as an army, usually in tents; to pitch a camp; to fix tents; but seldom used. [See Encamp.]


Topic: Camp-fight
Definition:
CAMP-FIGHT, n.  In law writers, a trial by duel, or the legal combat of two champions, for the decision of a controversy. [Camp in W. Is a game, and campiaw is to contend.]


Topic: Campain
Definition:
CAMPAIN, n.  
1.  An open field; a large open plain; an extensive tract of ground without considerable hills.  [See Champaign.]
2.  The time that an army keeps the filed, either in action, marches, or in camp, without entering into winter quarters.  A campaign is usually from spring to autumn or winter; but in some instances, armies make a winter campaign.


Topic: Camphor
Definition:
CAMPHOR, n.  Properly cafor.  A solid concrete juice or exudation, from the laurus camphora, or Indian laurel-tree, a large tree growing wild in Borneo, Sumatra, &c.  It is a whitish translucent substance, of granular or foliated fracture, and somewhat unctuous to the feel.  It has a bitterish aromatic taste, and a very fragrant smell, and is a powerful diaphoretic.
CAMPHOR, v.t.  To impregnate or wash with camphor.


Topic: Camphor-tree
Definition:
CAMPHOR-TREE, n.  The tree from which camphor is obtained.  According to Miller, there are two sorts of trees that produce camphor; one, a native of Borneo, which produces the best species; the other, a native of Japan, which resembles the bay-tree, bearing black or purple berries.  But the tree grows also in Sumatra.  The stem is thick, the bark of a brownish color, and the ramification strong, close and extended.  The, wood is soft, easily worked, and useful for domestic purposes.  To obtain camphor, the tree is cut down, and divided into pieces, and the camphor taken out; it being found in small whitish flakes, situated perpendicularly, in irregular veins, in and near the center of the tree.  It is then repeatedly soaked and washed in soapy water, to separate from it all extraneous matter.  It is then passed through three sieves of different texture, to divide it into three sorts, head, belly and foot camphor.  Camphor oil is camphor, before the operations of nature have reduced it to a concrete form; and concrete camphor may be reduced to oil, by the nitric acid.


Topic: Camphorate
Definition:
CAMPHORATE, n.  In chimistry, a compound of the acid of camphor, with different bases.
CAMPHORATE, a.  Pertaining to camphor, or impregnated with it.


Topic: Can
Definition:
CAN, n.  A cup or vessel for liquors, in modern times made of metal; as a can of ale.
CAN, v.i. pret. could, which is from another root. [See Could.]
1.  To be able; to have sufficient strength or physical power.  One man can lift a weight which another can not.  A horse can run a certain distance in a given time.
2.  To have means, or instruments, which supply power or ability.  A man can build a house, or fit out a ship, if he has the requisite property.  A nation cannot prosecute a war, without money or credit.  I will lend you a thousand dollars, if I can.
3.  To be possible.
Nicodemus said, How can these thing be?  John 3.
4.  To have adequate moral power.  A man can indulge in pleasure, or he can refrain.  He can restrain his appetites, if he will.
5.  To have just or legal competent power, that is, right; to be free from any restraint of moral, civil or political obligation, or from any positive prohibition.  We can use a highway for travel, for this is permitted by law.  A man can or cannot hold an office.  The Jews could not eat certain kinds of animals which were declared to be unclean.  The House of Commons in England can impeach, but the House of Lords only can try impeachments.  In general, we can do whatever neither the laws of God nor of man forbid.
How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God.  Gen. 34.
I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, my God, to do less or more.  Numb. 22.
6.  To have natural strength, or capacity; to be susceptible of; to be able or free to undergo any change, or produce any effect, by the laws and constitution of nature, or by divine appointment.  Silver can be melted, but cannot be changed into gold.
Can the rush grow without mire?  Job 8.
Can the fig tree bear olive berries?  James 3.
Can faith save him?  James 2.
7.  To have competent strength, ability, fortitude, patience, &c., in a passive sense.  He cannot bear reproof.  I cannot endure this impertinence.
This is a hard saying; who can hear it?  John 6.
8.  To have the requisite knowledge, experience or skill.  Young men are not admitted members of college, till they can translate Latin and Greek.  An astronomer can calculate an eclipse, though he can not make a coat.
9.  To have strength of inclination or motives sufficient to overcome obstacles, impediments, inconvenience or other objection.
I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.  Luke 9.
I cannot rise and give thee - yet because of him importunity, he will rise and give him.  Luke 9.
10.  To have sufficient capacity; as, a vessel can not hold or contain the whole quantity.
CAN, v.t.  To know.


Topic: Can-buoy
Definition:
CAN-BUOY, n.  In seamanship, a buoy in form of a cone, made large, and sometimes painted, as a mark to designate shoals, &c.


Topic: Can-hook
Definition:
CAN-HOOK, n.  An instrument to sling a cask by the ends of its staves, formed by reeving a piece of rope through two flat hooks, and splicing its ends together.


Topic: Canadian
Definition:
CANADIAN, a.  Pertaining to Canada, an extensive country on the north of the United States.
CANADIAN, n.  An inhabitant or native of Canada.


Topic: Canal
Definition:
CANAL, n.
1.  A passage for water; a water course; properly, a long trench or excavation in the earth for conducting water, and confining it to narrow limits; but the term may be applied to other water courses.  It is chiefly applied to artificial cuts or passages for water, used for transportation; whereas channel is applicable to a natural water course.
The canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie is one of the noblest works of art.
2.  In anatomy, a duct or passage in the body of an animal, through which any of the juices flow, or other substances pass; as the neck of the bladder, and the alimentary canal.
3.  A surgical instrument; a splint.


Topic: Canary
Definition:
CANARY, n.  
1.  Wine made in the Canary isles.
2.  An old dance.  Shakespeare has used the word as a verb in a kind of cant phrase.


Topic: Canary-bird
Definition:
CANARY-BIRD, n.  A singing bird from the Canary isles, a species of Fringilla.  The bill is conical and straight; the body is yellowish white; the prime feathers of the wings and tail are greenish.  These birds are now bred in other countries.


Topic: Cancel
Definition:
CANCEL, v.t.
1.  To cross the lines of a writing, and deface them; to blot out or obliterate.
2.  To annul, or destroy; as, to cancel an obligation or a debt.


Topic: Cancer
Definition:
CANCER, n.  
1.  The crab or crab-fish.  This genus of animals have generally eight legs, and two claws which serve as hands; two distant eyes, supported by a kind of peduncles, and they are elongated and movable.  They have also two clawed palpi, and the tail is jointed.  To this genus belong the lobster, shrimp, cray-fish, &c.
2.  In astronomy, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, represented by the form of a crab, and limiting the suns course northward in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice.
3.  In medicine, a roundish, hard, unequal, scirrous tumor of the glands, which usually ulcerates, is very painful, and generally fatal.


Topic: Candid
Definition:
CANDID, a.  
1.  White.
2.  Fair; open; frank; ingenuous; free from undue bias; disposed to think and judge according to truth and justice, or without partiality or prejudice; applied to persons.
3.  Fair; just; impartial; applied to things; as a candid view, or construction.


Topic: Candidate
Definition:
CANDIDATE, n.  
1.  A man who seeks or aspires to an office; one who offers himself, or is proposed fro preferment, by election or appointment; usually followed by for; as a candidate for the office of sheriff.
2.  One who is in contemplation for an office, or for preferment, by those who have power to elect or appoint, though he does not offer himself.
3.  One who, by his services or actions, will or may justly obtain preferment or reward, or whose conduct tends to secure it; as a candidate for praise.
4.  A man who is qualified, according to the rules of the church, to preach the gospel, and take the charge of a parish or religious society, and proposes to settle in the ministry.
5.  One who is in a state of trial or probation for a reward, in another life; as a candidate for heaven or for eternity.


Topic: Candied
Definition:
CANDIED, pp. or a.  Preserved with sugar, or incrusted with it; covered with crystals of sugar or ice, or with matter resembling them; as candied raisins.


Topic: Candle
Definition:
CANDLE, n.  
1.  A long, but small cylindrical body of tallow, wax or spermaceti, formed on a wick composed of linen or cotton threads, twisted loosely; used for a portable light of domestic use.
2.  A light.
3.  A light; a luminary.  In scripture, the candle of the Lord is the divine favor and blessing, Job 14.  3.; or the conscience or understanding.  Prov. 20:27.
Excommunication by inch of candle, is when the offender is allowed time to repent, while a candle burns, and is then excommunicated.
Sale by inch of candle, is an auction in which persons are allowed to bid, only till a small piece of candle burns out.
Medicated candle, in medicine, a bougie.
Rush-candles are used in some countries; they are made of the pith of certain rushes, peeled except on one side, and dipped in grease.


Topic: Candle-bomb
Definition:
CANDLE-BOMB, n.  A small glass bubble, filled with water, place in the wick of a candle, where it bursts with a report.


Topic: Candle-coal
Definition:
CANNEL-COAL or CANDLE-COAL, n. A hard, opake, inflammable fossil coal of a black color, sufficiently solid to be cut and polished.  On fire it decrepitates and breaks into angular fragments.  It is sometimes used for inkholders and toys.


Topic: Candle-holder
Definition:
CANDLE-HOLDER, n.  A person that holds a candle.  Hence, one that remotely assists another, but is otherwise not of importance.


Topic: Candle-stick
Definition:
CANDLE-STICK, n.  An instrument or utensil to hold a candle, made in different forms and of different materials; originally a stick or piece of wood.


Topic: Candlemas
Definition:
CANDLEMAS, n.  The feast of the church celebrated on the second day of February, in honor of the purification of the Virgin Mary; so called from the great number of lights used on that occasion.  This feast is supposed to have originated in the declaration of Simeon, that our Savior was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles.  On this day, the Catholics consecrate all the candles and tapers which are to be used in their churches during the whole year.  In Rome, the pope performs the ceremony himself, and distributes wax candles to the cardinals and others, who carry them in procession through the great hall of the popes palace.  The ceremony was prohibited in England by an order of council in 1548.  But candlemas is one of the four terms for paying and receiving rents and interest; and it gives name to a law term, beginning Jan. 15, and ending Feb. 3.


Topic: Candor
Definition:
CANDOR, n.  Openness of heart; frankness; ingenuousness of mind; a disposition to treat subjects with fairness; freedom from tricks or disguise; sincerity.


Topic: Candy
Definition:
CANDY, v.t.
1.  To conserve or dress with sugar; to boil in sugar.
2.  To from into congelations or crystals.
3.  To cover or incrust with congelations, or crystals of ice.
CANDY, v.i.  To from into crystals, or become congealed; to take on the form of candied sugar.


Topic: Candying
Definition:
CANDYING, ppr.  Conserving with sugar.
CANDYING, n.  The act of preserving simples in substance, by boiling them in sugar.


Topic: Cane
Definition:
CANE, n.  
1.  In botany, this term is applied to several species of plants belonging to several species of plants belonging to different genera, such as Arundo, Calamus, Saccharum, &c.  Among these is the bamboo of the East Indies, with a strong stem, which serves for pipes, poles, and walking sticks.  The sugar cane, a native of Asia, Africa and America, furnishes the juice from which are made, sugar, melasses and spirit. [See Sugar Cane.]
2.  A walking stick.
3.  A long measure, in several countries of Europe; at Naples, the length is 7 feet 3  inches; in Thoulouse in France, 5 feet 8  inches; in Provence, &c., 6 feet 5  inches.
CANE, v.t.  To beat with a cane or walking stick.


Topic: Cane-trash
Definition:
CANE-TRASH, n.  Refuse of canes, or macerated rinds of cane, reserved for fuel to boil the cane-juice.


Topic: Canicule
Definition:
CANICULE, n.  A star in the constellation of Canis Major, called also the dog-star, or Sirius; a star of the first magnitude, and the largest and brightest of all the fixed stars.  From the rising of this heliacally, or at its emersion from the suns rays, the ancients reckoned their dog-days.


Topic: Canine
Definition:
CANINE, a.  Pertaining to dogs; having the properties or qualities of a dog; as a canine appetite, insatiable hunger; canine madness, or hydrophobia.
Canine teeth are two sharp pointed teeth in each jaw of an animal, one on each side, between the incisors and grinders; so named from their resemblance to a dogs teeth.


Topic: Canister
Definition:
CANISTER, n.  Properly, a small basket, as in Dryden; but more generally, a small box or case, for tea, coffee, &c.


Topic: Canker
Definition:
CANKER, n.  
1.  A disease incident to trees, which causes the bark to rot and fall.
2.  A popular name of certain small eroding ulcers in the mouth, particularly of children.  They are generally covered with a whitish slough.
3.  A virulent, corroding ulcer; or any thing that corrodes, corrupts or destroys.
Sacrilege may prove an eating canker.
And their word will eat as doth a canker.  Tim. 2.
4.  An eating, corroding, virulent humor; corrosion.
5.  A kind of rose, the dog rose.
6.  In farriery, a running thrush of the worst kind; a disease in horses feet, discharging a fetid matter from the cleft in the middle of the frog.
CANKER, v.i.  To grow corrupt; to decay, or waste away by means of any noxious cause; to grow rusty, or to be oxydized, as a metal.


Topic: Canker-worm
Definition:
CANKER-WORM, n.  A worm, destructive to trees or plants.  In America, this name is given to a worm that, in some years, destroys the leaves and fruit of apple trees.  This animal springs from an egg deposited by a miller, that issues from the ground.


Topic: Cannibalism
Definition:
CANNIBALISM, n.  
1.  The act or practice of eating human flesh, by mankind.
2.  Murderous cruelty; barbarity.


Topic: Cannon
Definition:
CANNON, n.  A large military engine for throwing balls, and other instruments of death, by the force of gun powder.  Guns of this kind are made of iron or brass and of different sizes, carrying balls from three or four pounds, to forty eight pounds weight.  In some countries, they have been made of much larger size.  The smaller guns of this kind are called field pieces.


Topic: Cannon-ball
Definition:
CANNON-BALL, n.  A ball, usually made of cast iron, to be thrown from cannon.  Cannon bullet, of the like signification, is not now used.  Cannon balls were originally of stone.


Topic: Cannonade
Definition:
CANNONADE, n.  The act of discharging cannon and throwing balls, for the purpose of destroying an army, or battering a town, ship or fort.  The term usually implies an attack of some continuance.
CANNONADE, v.t.  To attack with heavy artillery; to throw balls, or other deadly weapons, as chain-shot or langrage, against an enemys army, town, fortress or ship; to batter with cannon shot.
CANNONADE, v.i.  To discharge cannon; to play with large guns.


Topic: Cannot
Definition:
CANNOT, [can and not.] These words are usually united, but perhaps without good reason; canst and not are never united.


Topic: Canoe
Definition:
CANOE,n.
1.  A boat used by rude nations, formed of the body or trunk of a tree, excavated, by cutting or burning, into a suitable shape.  Similar boats are now used by civilized men, for fishing and other purposes.  It is impelled by a paddle, instead of an oar.
2.  A boat made of bark or skins, used by savages.


Topic: Canon
Definition:
CANON, n.  
1.  In ecclesiastical affairs, a law, or rule of doctrine or discipline, enacted by a council and confirmed by the sovereign; a decision of matters in religion, or a regulation of policy or discipline, by a general or provincial council.


Topic: Canoness
Definition:
CANONESS, n.  A woman who enjoys a prebend, affixed, by the foundation, to maids, without obliging them to make any vows or renounce the world.


Topic: Canonical
Definition:
CANONICAL, a.  Pertaining to a canon; according to the canon or rule.
Canonical books or canonical scriptures, are those books of the scriptures which are admitted by the canons of the church, to be of divine origin.  The Roman catholic church admits the Apocryphal books to be canonical; the Protestants reject them.
Canonical hours, are certain stated times of the day, fixed by the ecclesiastical laws, or appropriated to the offices of prayer and devotion.  In Great Britain, these hours are from eight oclock to twelve in the forenoon, before and after which marriage cannot be legally performed in the church.
Canonical obedience, is submission to the canons of a church, especially the submission of the inferior clergy to their bishops, and other religious orders to their superiors.
Canonical punishments, are such as the church may inflict, as excommunication, degradation, penance, &c.
Canonical life, is the method or rule of living prescribed by the ancient clergy who lived in community, a course of living prescribed for clerks, less rigid than the monastic and more restrained than the secular.
Canonical sins, in the ancient church, were those for which capital punishment was inflicted; as idolatry, murder, adultery, heresy, &c.
Canonical letters, anciently, were letters which passed between the orthodox clergy, as testimonials of their faith, to keep up the catholic communion, and to distinguish them from heretics.
Canonical epistles, is an appellation given to those epistles of the New Testament which are called general or catholic.


Topic: Canonist
Definition:
CANONIST, n.  A professor of cannon law; one skilled in the study and practice of ecclesiastical law.


Topic: Canonization
Definition:
CANONIZATION, n. [See Canonize.] 
1.  The act of declaring a man a saint, or rather the act of ranking a deceased person in the catalogue of saints, called a canon.  This act is preceded by beatification, and by an examination into the life and miracles of the person; after which the Pope decrees the canonization.
2.  The state of being sainted.


Topic: Canonize
Definition:
CANONIZE, v.t. [from canon.] To declare a man a saint and rank him in the catalogue, called a canon.


Topic: Canopy
Definition:
CANOPY, n.  
1.  A covering over a throne, or over a bed; more generally, a covering over the head.  So the sky is called a canopy, and a canopy is borne over the head in processions.
2.  In architecture and sculpture, a magnificent decoration serving to cover and crown an altar, throne, tribunal, pulpit, chair or the like.
CANOPY, v.t.  To cover with a canopy.


Topic: Cant
Definition:
CANT, v.t.  
1.  In popular usage, to turn about, or to turn over, by a sudden push or thrust; as, to cant over a pail or a cask.
2.  To toss; as, to cant a ball.
3.  To speak with a whining voice, or an affected singing tone.
[In this sense, it is usually intransitive.]
4.  To sell by auction, or to bid a price at auction.
CANT, n.  
1.  A toss; a throw, thrust or push with a sudden jerk; as, to give a ball a cant. [This is the literal sense.]
2.  A whining, singing manner of speech; a quaint, affected mode of uttering words either in conversation or preaching.
3.  The whining speech of beggars, as in asking alms and making complaints of their distresses.
4.  The peculiar words and phrases of professional men; phrases often repeated, or not well authorized.
5.  Any barbarous jargon in speech.
6.  Whining pretension to goodness.
7.  Outcry, at a public sale of goods; a call for bidders at an auction.
This use of the word is precisely equivalent to auction, auctio, a hawking, a crying out, or in the vulgar dialect, a singing out, but I believe not in use in the U. States.
CANT, n.  A nich; a corner or retired place.
Cant-timbers, in a ship, are those which are situated at the two ends.


Topic: Cantaliver
Definition:
CANTALIVER, n. [cantle and eaves.] In architecture, a piece of wood, framed into the front or side of a house, to suspend the moldings and eaves over it.


Topic: Cantata
Definition:
CANTATA, n.  A poem set to music; a composition or song, intermixed with recitatives and airs, chiefly intended for a single voice.


Topic: Canter
Definition:
CANTER, v.i.  To move as a horse in a moderate gallop, raising the two fore feet nearly at the same time, with a leap or spring.
CANTER, v.t.  To ride upon a canter.
CANTER, n.  
1.  A moderate gallop.
2.  One who cants or whines.


Topic: Cantharidin
Definition:
CANTHARIDIN, n.  That peculiar substance existing in the Meloe vesicatorius, or cantharides, which causes vesication.


Topic: Cantharis
Definition:
CANTHARIS or plu. CANTHARIDES, n.  Spanish flies; a species of Meloe.  This fly is nine or ten lines in length, of a shining green color, mixed with azure, and has a nauseous smell.  It feeds upon the leaves of trees and shrubs, preferring the ash.  These flies, when bruised, are universally used as a vesicatory, or blistering plaster.  The largest come from Italy, but the best from Spain.


Topic: Canthus
Definition:
CANTHUS, n.  An angle of the eye; a cavity at the extremities of the eyelids; the greater is next to the nose; the lesser, near the temple.


Topic: Canticle
Definition:
CANTICLE, n.  
1.  A song.  In the plural, canticles, the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon, one of the books of the Old Testament.
2.  A canto; a division of a song.


Topic: Canting
Definition:
CANTING, ppr.  
1.  Throwing with a sudden jerk; tossing.
2.  Speaking with a whine or song-like tone.


Topic: Canto
Definition:
CANTO, n.  A part or division of a poem, answering to what in prose is called a book.  In Italian, canto is a song, and it signifies also the treble part, first treble, or highest vocal part.


Topic: Canton
Definition:
CANTON, n.
1.  A small portion of land, or division of territory; originally, a portion of territory on a border; also, the inhabitants of a canton.
2.  A small portion or district of territory, constituting a distinct state or government; as in Switzerland.
3.  In heraldry, a corner of the shield.
4.  A distinct part, or division; as the cantons of a painting or other representation.


Topic: Cantonment
Definition:
CANTONMENT, n.  A part or division of a town or village, assigned to a particular regiment of troops; separate quarters.


Topic: Canvas
Definition:
CANVAS, n.  
1.  A coarse cloth made of hemp, or flax, used for tents, sails of ships, painting and other purposes.
2.  A clear unbleached cloth, wove regularly in little squares, used for working tapestry with the needle.
3.  Among the French, the rough draught or model on which an air or piece of music is composed, and given to a poet to finish.  The canvas of a song contains certain notes of the composer, to show the poet the measure of the verses he is to make.
4.  Among seamen, cloth in sails, or sails in general; as, to spread as much canvas as the ship will bear.


Topic: Canvass
Definition:
CANVASS, v.t.
1.  To discuss; literally, to beat or shake out, to open by beating or shaking, like the L. Discutio.  This is the common use of the word, as to canvass a subject, or the policy of a measure.
2.  To examine returns of votes; to search or scrutinize; as, to canvass the votes for senators.
CANVASS, v.i.
1.  To seek or go about to solicit votes or interest; to use efforts to obtain; to make interest in favor of; followed by for; as, to canvass for an office, or preferment; to canvass for a friend.
CANVASS, n.  
1.  Examination; close inspection to know the state of; as a canvass of votes.
2.  Discussion; debate
3.  A seeking, solicitation, or efforts to obtain.


Topic: Canvasser
Definition:
CANVASSER, n.  
1.  One who solicits votes, or goes about to make interest.
2.  One who examines the returns of votes for a public officer.


Topic: Canvassing
Definition:
CANVASSING, ppr.  Discussing; examining; sifting; seeking.
CANVASSING, n.  The act of discussing, examining, or making interest.


Topic: Canzone
Definition:
CANZONE, n.  A song or air in two or three parts, with passages of fugue and imitation; or a poem to which music may be composed in the style of a cantata.  When set to a piece of instrumental music, it signifies much the same as cantata; and when set to a sonata, it signifies allegro, or a brisk movement.


Topic: Canzonet
Definition:
CANZONET, n.  A little or short song, in one, two or three parts.  It sometimes consists of two strains, each of which is sung twice.  Sometimes it is a species of jig.


Topic: Cap
Definition:
CAP, n.  
1.  A part of dress made to cover the head.
2.  The ensign of a cardinalate.
3.  The top, or the uppermost; the highest.
Thou art the cap of fools.
4.  A vessel in form of a cap.
5.  An act of respect, made by uncovering the head.
Cap of cannon, a piece of lead laid over the vent to keep the priming dry; now called an apron.
Cap of maintenance, an ornament of state, carried before the Kings of England at the coronation.  It is also carried before the mayors of some cities.
In ship-building, a cap is a thick strong block of wood, used to confine two masts together, when one is erected at the head of another.
CAP, VT  
1.  To cover the top, or end; to spread over; as, a bone is capped at the joint with a cartilaginous substance.
The cloud-capped towers.
2.  To deprive of the cap, or take off a cap.
To cap verses, is to name alternately verses beginning with a particular letter; to name in opposition or emulation; to name alternately in contest.


Topic: Capable
Definition:
CAPABLE, a.  
1.  Able to hold or contain; able to receive; sufficiently capacious; often followed by of; as, the room is not capable of receiving, or capable of holding the company.
2.  Endued with power competent to the object; as, a man is capable of judging, or he is not capable.
3.  Possessing mental powers; intelligent; able to understand, or receive into the mind; having a capacious mind; as a capable judge; a capable instructor.
4.  Susceptible; as, capable of pain or grief.
5.  Qualified for; susceptible of; as, a thing is capable of long duration; or it is capable of being colored or altered.
6.  Qualified for, in a moral sense; having legal power or capacity; as, a bastard is not capable of inheriting an estate.
7.  Hollow.


Topic: Capableness
Definition:
CAPABLENESS, n.  The state or quality of being capable; capacity; power of understanding; knowledge.


Topic: Capacious
Definition:
CAPACIOUS, a. 
1.  Wide; large; that will hold much; as a capacious vessel.
2.  Broad; extensive; as a capacious bay or harbor.
3.  Extensive; comprehensive; able to take a wide view; as a capacious mind.


Topic: Capaciousness
Definition:
CAPACIOUSNESS, n.  
1.  Wideness; largeness; as of a vessel.
2.  Extensiveness; largeness; as of a bay.
3.  Comprehensiveness; power of taking a wide survey; applied to the mind.


Topic: Capacitate
Definition:
CAPACITATE, v.t. [See Capacity.]
1.  To make capable; to enable; to furnish with natural power; as, to capacitate one for understanding a theorem.
2.  To endue with moral qualifications; to qualify; to furnish with legal powers; as, to capacitate one for an office.


Topic: Capacity
Definition:
CAPACITY, n.
1.  Passive power; the power of containing, or holding; extent of room or space; as the capacity of a vessel, or a cask.
2.  The extent or comprehensiveness of the mind; the power of receiving ideas or knowledge.
Let instruction be adapted to the capacities of youth.
3.  Active power; ability; applied to men or things; but less common, and correct.
The world does not include a cause endued with such capacities.
4.  State; condition; character; profession; occupation.  A man may act in the capacity of a mechanic, of a friend, of an attorney, or of a statesman.  He may have a natural or a political capacity.
5.  Ability, in a moral or legal sense; qualification; legal power or right; as, a man or a corporation may have a capacity to give or receive and hold estate.
6.  In geometry, the solid contents of a body.
7.  In chimistry, that state, quality or constitution of bodies, by which they absorb and contain, or render latent, any fluid; as the capacity of water for caloric.


Topic: Caparison
Definition:
CAPARISON, n.  A cloth or covering laid over the saddle or furniture of a horse, especially a sumpter horse or horse of state.
CAPARISON, v.t.
1.  To cover with a cloth.
2.  To dress pompously; to adorn with rich dress.


Topic: Cape
Definition:
CAPE, n.  
1.  A head land; properly the head, point or termination of a neck of land, extending some distance into the sea, beyond the common shore, and hence the name is applied to the neck of land itself, indefinitely, as in Cape-Cod, Cape-Horn, Cape of Good Hope.  It differs from a promontory in this, that it may be high or low land; but a promontory is a high bold termination of a neck of land.
2.  The neck-piece of a cloke or coat.


Topic: Capelan
Definition:
CAPELAN, n.  A small fish, about six inches in length, sholes of which appear off the coasts of Greenland, Iceland and New-foundland.  They constitute a large part of the food of the Greenlanders.


Topic: Capellet
Definition:
CAPELLET, n.  A kind of swelling, like a wen, growing on the heel of the hock on a horse, and on the point of the elbow.


Topic: Caper
Definition:
CAPER, v.i.  To leap; to skip or jump; to prance; to spring.
CAPER, n.  A leap; a skip; a spring; as in dancing or mirth, or in the frolick of a goat or lamb.
CAPER, n.  The bud of the caper-bush, which is much used for pickling.  The buds are collected before the flowers expand, and preserved in vinegar.  The bush is a low shrub, generally growing from the joints of old walls, from fissures in rocks and amongst rubbish, in the southern parts of Europe.


Topic: Capias
Definition:
CAPIAS, n.  In law, a writ of two sorts; one before judgment, called a capias ad respondendum, where an original is issued, to take the defendant, and make him answer to the plaintiff; the other, which issues after judgment, is of divers kinds; as a capias ad satisfaciendum, or writ of execution; a capias pro fine; a capias utlagatum; a capias in withernam.


Topic: Capillament
Definition:
CAPILLAMENT, n.
1.  The filament, a small fine thread, like a hair, that grows in the middle of a flower, with a little knob at the top; a chive.
2.  A FINE FIBER, OR FILAMENT, OF WHICH THE NERVES ARE COMPOSED.


Topic: Capillary
Definition:
CAPILLARY, a.  
1.  Resembling a hair, fine, minute, small in diameter, though long; as a capillary tube or pipe; a capillary vessel in animal bodies, such as the ramifications of the blood vessels.
2.  In botany, capillary plants are hair-shaped, as the ferns; a term used by Ray, Boerhaave and Morison.  This class of plants corresponds to the order of Filices, in the Sexual method, which bear  their flower and fruit on the back of the leaf or stalk.
This term is applied also to leaves which are longer than the setaceous or bristle-shaped leaf, to glands resembling hairs, to the filaments, to the style, and to the pappus or down affixed to some seeds.
CAPILLARY, n.  A fine vessel or canal.


Topic: Capital
Definition:
CAPITAL, a.  
1.  Literally, pertaining to the head; as a capital bruise, in Milton, a bruise on the head.
2.  Figuratively, as the head is the highest part of a man, chief; principal; first in importance; as a capital city or town; the capital articles of religion.
3.  Punishable by loss of the head or of life; incurring the forfeiture of life; punishable with death; as, treason and murder are capital offenses or crimes.
4.  Taking away life, as a capital punishment; or affecting life, as a capital trial.
5.  Great, important, though perhaps not chief; as, a town possesses capital advantages for trade.
6. Large; of great size; as capital letters, which are of different form, and larger than common letters.
Capital stock, is the sum of money or stock which a merchant, banker or manufacturer employs in his business; either the original stock, or that stock augmented.  Also, the sum of money or stock which each partner contributes to the joint fund or stock of the partnership; also, the common fund or stock of the company, whether incorporated or not.
A capital city or town is the metropolis or chief city of an empire, kingdom, state or province.  The application of the epithet indicates the city to be the largest, or to be the seat of government, or both.  In many instances, the capital, that is, the largest city, is not the seat of government.
CAPITAL, n.  The uppermost part of a column, pillar or pilaster, serving as the head or crowning, and placed immediately over the shaft, and under the entablature.
By the customary omission of the noun, to which the adjective, capital, refers, it stand for,
1.  The chief city or town in a kingdom or state; a metropolis.
2.  A large letter or type, in printing.
3.  A stock in trade, in manufactures, or in any business requiring the expenditure of money with a view to profit.


Topic: Capitalist
Definition:
CAPITALIST, n.  A man who has a capital or stock in trade, usually denoting a man of large property, which is or may be employed in business.


Topic: Capitally
Definition:
CAPITALLY, adv.  
1.  In a capital manner; nobly; finely.
2.  With loss of life; as, to punish capitally.


Topic: Capitation
Definition:
CAPITATION, n.  
1.  Numeration by the head; a numbering of persons.
2.  A tax, or imposition upon each head or person; a poll-tax.  Sometimes written Capitation-tax.


Topic: Capite
Definition:
CAPITE.  In English law, a tenant in capite, or in chief, is one who holds lands immediately of the king, caput, the head or Lord Paramount of all lands in the kingdom, by knights service or by soccage.  This tenure is called tenure in capite; but it was abolished in England, by 12 Charles II. 24.


Topic: Capitol
Definition:
CAPITOL, n.  
1.  The temple of Jupiter in Rome, and a fort or castle, on the Mons Capitolinus.  In this, the Senate of Rome anciently assembled; and on the same place, is still the city hall or town-house, where the conservators of the Romans hold their meetings.  The same name was given to the principal temples of the Romans in their colonies.
2.  The edifice occupied by the Congress of the United States in their deliberations.  In some states, the State-house, or house in which the legislature holds its sessions; a government house.


Topic: Capitoline
Definition:
CAPITOLINE, a.  Pertaining to the capitol in Rome.  The Capitoline Games were annual games instituted by Camillus in honor of Jupiter Capitolinus, and in commemoration of the preservation of the capitol from the Gauls, and other games instituted by Domitian and celebrated every five years.


Topic: Capitulary
Definition:
CAPITULARY, n.  
1.  An act passed in a chapter, either of knights, canons or religious.
2.  The body of laws or statutes of a chapter, or of an ecclesiastical council.  This name is also given to the laws, civil and ecclesiastical, made by Charlemagne, and other princes, in general councils and assemblies of the people.  Some indeed have alledged that these are supplements to laws.  They are so called, because they are divided into chapters or sections.
3.  The member of a chapter.


Topic: Capitulate
Definition:
CAPITULATE, v.i.
1.  To draw up a writing in chapters, heads or articles. [But this sense is not usual.]
2.  To surrender, as an army or garrison, to an enemy, by treaty, in which the terms of surrender are specified and agreed to by the parties.  The term is applicable to a garrison or to the inhabitants of a besieged place, or to an army or troops in any situation in which they are subdued or compelled to submit to a victorious enemy.


Topic: Capitulation
Definition:
CAPITULATION, n.  
1.  The act of capitulating, or surrendering to an enemy upon stipulated terms or conditions.
2.  The treaty or instrument containing the conditions of surrender.
3.  A reducing to heads.
4.  In German polity, a contract which the Emperor makes with the electors, in the names of the princes and states of the empire, before he is raised to the imperial dignity.


Topic: Capon
Definition:
CAPON, n.  A castrated cock; a cock-chicken gelded as soon as he quits his dam, or as soon as he begins to crow.
CAPON, v.t.  To castrate, as a cock.


Topic: Caponniere
Definition:
CAPONNIERE, n.  In fortification, a covered lodgment, sunk four or five feet into the ground, encompassed with a parapet, about two feet high, serving to support several planks, laden with earth.  It is large enough to contain 15 or 20 soldiers, and is placed in the glacis, at the extremity of the counterscarp, and in dry moats, with embrasures or loop holes, through which the soldiers may fire.


Topic: Capot
Definition:
CAPOT, n.  A winning of all the tricks of cards at the game of piquet.
CAPOT, v.t.  To win all the tricks of cards at piquet.


Topic: Capreolate
Definition:
CAPREOLATE, a.  In botany, having tendrils, or filiform spiral claspers, by which plants fasten themselves to other bodies, as in vines, peas, &c.


Topic: Caprice
Definition:
CAPRICE, n.  A sudden start of the mind; a sudden change of opinion, or humor; a whim, freak, or particular fancy.


Topic: Capricious
Definition:
CAPRICIOUS, a.  Freakish; whimsical; apt to change opinions suddenly, or to start from ones purpose; unsteady; changeable; fickle; fanciful; subject to change or irregularity; as a man of a capricious temper.


Topic: Capriciousness
Definition:
CAPRICIOUSNESS, n.  
1.  The quality of being led by caprice; whimsicalness; unsteadiness of purpose or opinion.
2.  Unsteadiness; liableness to sudden changes; as the capriciousness of fortune.


Topic: Capricorn
Definition:
CAPRICORN, n.  One of the twelve signs of the zodiac, the winter solstice; represented on ancient monuments, by the figure of a goat, or a figure having the fore part like a goat and the hind part like a fish.


Topic: Capriole
Definition:
CAPRIOLE, n.  In the manege, caprioles are leaps that a horse makes in the same place without advancing, in such a manner that when he is at the highth of the leap, he jerks out with his hind legs, even and near.  It differs from the croupade in this, that, in a croupade, a horse does not show his shoes, and from a balotade, in which he does not jerk out.


Topic: Capstan
Definition:
CAPSTAN, n.  A strong massy column of timber, formed like a truncated cone, and having its upper extremity pierced to receive bars or levers, for winding a rope round it, to raise great weights, or perform other extraordinary work, that requires a great power.  It may be let down through the decks of a ship, and so fixed that the work is performed by a horizontal motion.


Topic: Capsule
Definition:
CAPSULE, n.  
1. The seed vessel of a plant; a dry membranaceous hollow pericarp, opening differently in different plants.  It is composed of valves or outer covering, partitions, the columella or central pillar, and cells.
2. A small saucer, made of clay for roasting samples or ores, or for melting them.


Topic: Captain
Definition:
CAPTAIN, n.  
1.  Literally, a head or chief officer; appropriately, the military officer who commands a company, whether of infantry, cavalry, artillery or matrosses.
2.  The commander of a ship of war, or of a merchantman.  But the latter is often called a master.
3.  The commander of a military band, a sense that occurs in the sciptures; as a captain of fifty.
4.  A man skilled in war or military affairs; as, Lord Wellington is a great captain.
5.  A chief commander.  Shak.  But in this sense rarely used, but in composition.
Captain-general, is the commander in chief of an army, or of the militia.  The covernor of a state is Captain-General of the militia.
Captain-Lieutenant, is an officer, who with the rank of captain and pay of lieutenant, commands a company or troop.  Thus the colonel of a regiment being the captain of the first company, that company is commanded by a Captain-Lieutenant.
Captain-Bashaw, or Capudan Bashaw, in Turkey, is the High Admiral.
CAPTAIN, a.  Chief; valiant.


Topic: Captaincy
Definition:
CAPTAINCY, n.  
1.  The rank, post or commission of a captain.
2.  The jurisdiction of a captain, or commander, as in South America.


Topic: Captainship
Definition:
CAPTAINSHIP, n.  
1.  The condition or post of a captain or chief commander.
2.  The rank, quality or post of a captain.  In lieu of this captaincy is now used.
3.  The command of a clan, or government of a certain district.
4.  Skill in military affairs.


Topic: Caption
Definition:
CAPTION, n.  
1.  The act of taking, or apprehending by a judicial process.
2.  A certificate signed by commissioners in Chancery, declaring when and where the commission was executed.
3.  A preamble.
4.  In Scots law, a writ issued at the instance of a creditor, commanding an officer to take and imprison the debtor, till he pays the debt.


Topic: Captious
Definition:
CAPTIOUS, a.  
1.  Disposed to find fault, or raise objections; apt to cavil, as in popular language, it is said, apt to catch at; as a captious man.
2.  Fitted to catch or ensnare; insidious; as a captious question.
3.  Proceeding from a caviling disposition; as a captious objection or criticism.


Topic: Captivate
Definition:
CAPTIVATE, v.t.
1.  To take prisoner; to seize by force; as an enemy in war.
2.  To subdue; to bring into bondage.
3.  To overpower and gain with excellence or beauty; to charm; to engage the affections; to bind in love.
4.  To enslave; with to; as, captivated to error.
CAPTIVATE, a.  Taken prisoner.


Topic: Captivating
Definition:
CAPTIVATING, ppr.  
1.  Taking prisoner; engaging the affections.
2.  a.  Having power to engage the affections.


Topic: Captive
Definition:
CAPTIVE, n.  
1.  A prisoner taken by force or stratagem in war, by an enemy; followed by to; as a captive to the victor.
2.  One who is charmed or subdued by beauty or excellence; one whose affections are seized, or who is held by strong ties of love.
3.  One who is ensnared by love or flattery, or by wiles.  2 Tim. 2:26.
4.  A slave.  Anciently captives were enslaved by their conquerors.  But in modern times, they are not made slaves in Christian countries; and the word captive, in a literal sense, rarely signifies a slave.
CAPTIVE, v.t.  To take prisoner; to bring into subjection.


Topic: Captivity
Definition:
CAPTIVITY, n.  
1.  The state of being a prisoner, or of being in the power of an enemy by force or the fate of war.
2.  Subjection to love.
3.  Subjection; a state of being under control.
Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.  2 Cor. 10.
4.  Subjection; servitude; slavery.
But I see another law in my members--bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.  Rom 7.
To lead captivity captive, in scripture, is to subdue those who have held others in slavery, or captivity.  Ps. 98.


Topic: Captor
Definition:
CAPTOR, n.  One who takes, as a prisoner or a prize.  It is appropriately one who takes a prize at sea.


Topic: Capture
Definition:
CAPTURE, n.  
1.  In a general sense, the act of taking or seizing; as the capture of an enemy, of a ship, or of booty, by force, surprise or stratagem.
2.  The thing taken; a prize; prey taken by force, surprise or stratagem.
3.  Seizure; arrest as the capture of a criminal or debtor.
CAPTURE, v.t.  To take or seize by force, surprise or stratagem, as an enemy or his property; to take by force under the authority of a commission; as to capture a ship.


Topic: Capuchin
Definition:
CAPUCHIN, n.  
1.  A garment for females, consisting of a cloke and hood, made in imitation of the dress of capuchin monks.
2.  A pigeon whose head is covered with feathers.


Topic: Capuchins
Definition:
CAPUCHINS, n.  Monks of the order of St. Francis, who cover their heads with a capuce, capuchon, a stuff-cap or cowl.  They are clothed in brown or gray, go bare-footed, and never shave their faces.


Topic: Caracol
Definition:
CARACOL, n.  
1.  In the manege, a semi-round, or half turn which a horseman makes, either to the right or left.  In the army, the cavalry make a caracol after each discharge, in order to pass to the rear of the squadron.
2.  In architecture, a staircase in a helix or spiral form.
CARACOL, v.i.  To move in a caracol; to wheel.


Topic: Caracoly
Definition:
CARACOLY, n.  A mixture of gold, silver and copper, of which are made rings pendants and other toys for the savages.


Topic: Carat
Definition:
CARAT, n.  
1.  The weight of four grains, used by gold-smiths and jewelers in weighing precious stones and pearls.
2.  The weight that expresses the fineness of gold.  The whole mass of gold is divided into 24 equal parts, and as many 24th parts as it contains of pure gold, it is called gold of so many carats.  Thus gold of twenty-two parts of pure metal, is gold of twenty-two carats.  The carat in Great Britain is divided into four grains; among the Germans into twelve parts; and among the French into thirty-two.
3.  The value of any thing.


Topic: Caravan
Definition:
CARAVAN, n.  A company of travellers, pilgrims or merchants, marching or proceeding in a body over the deserts of Arabia, or other region infested with robbers.


Topic: Caravansary
Definition:
CARAVANSARY, n.  A place appointed for receiving and loading caravans; a kind of inn, where the caravans res at night, being a large square building, with a spacious court in the middle.


Topic: Carbine
Definition:
CARBINE, n.  A short gun or fire arm, carrying a ball of 24 to the pound, borne by light horsemen, and hanging by a belt over the left shoulder.  The barrel is two feet and a half long, and sometimes furrowed.


Topic: Carbon
Definition:
CARBON, n.  Pure charcoal; a simple body, black, brittle, light and inodorous.  It is usually the remains of some vegetable body, from which all its volatile matter has been expelled by heat.  When crystalized, it forms the diamond; and by means of a galvanic apparatus, it is found to be capable of fusion.


Topic: Carbonate
Definition:
CARBONATE, v.t.  In chimistry, a compound formed by the union of carbonic acid with a base; as the carbonate of lime; a carbonate of copper.


Topic: Carboncle
Definition:
CARBONCLE, n.  
1.  An anthrax; an inflammatory tumor, or painful gangrenous boil or ulcer.
2.  A beautiful gem, of a deep red color, with a mixture of scarlet, called by the Greeks anthrax, found in the East Indies.  It is foundpure, and adhering to a heavy ferruginous stone, of the emery kind.  It is usually a quarter of an inch in length, and two-thirds of that in diameter, of an angular figure.  When held up to the sun, it loses its deep tinge, and becomes exactly of the color of a burning coal.
The carbuncle of the ancients is supposed to have been a garnet.
3.  In heraldry, a charge or bearing consisting of eight radii, four of which make a common cross, and the other four, a saltier.


Topic: Carbonic
Definition:
CARBONIC, a.  Pertaining to carbon, or obtained from it.  The carbonic acid is a saturated combination of carbon and oxygen.  It has been called fixed air, aerial acid, mephitic gas, and cretaceous acid, or acid of chalk.  It is found, in some places, in a state of gas; it exists in the atmosphere, and is disengaged from fermenting liquors, and from decomposing vegetable and animal substances.  It is heavier than common air, and subsides into low places, vaults and wells.


Topic: Carbonize
Definition:
CARBONIZE, v.t.  To convert into carbon by combustion or the action of fire; to expel from wood or other substance all volatile matter.


Topic: Carburet
Definition:
CARBURET, n.  A combination of carbon with a metal, earth or alkali.  A combination of carbon with a simple inflammable or a metal.


Topic: Carbureted
Definition:
CARBURETED, a.  Combined with carbon, or holding carbon in colution; as carbureted hydrogen gas.  Carbureted hydrogen consists of one prime equivalent of each.  Carbureted hydrogen gas is called hydro-carbonate, being resolvable into carbonic acid and water, by combustion with oxygen.  Carbureted is applied to gaseous compounds.  Thus we say carbureted hydrogen, instead of carburet of hydrogen.


Topic: Carcass
Definition:
CARCASS, n.  
1.  The body of an animal; usually the body when dead.  It is not applied to the living body of the human species, except in low or ludicrous language.
2.  The decaying remains of a bulky thing, as of a boat or ship.
3.  The frame or main parts of a thing, unfinished or without ornament.  This seems to be the primary sense of the word. [See the next word.]
CARCASS, n.  An iron case or hollow vessel, about the size of a bomb, of an oval figure, filled with combustible and other substances, as meal-powder, salt-peter, sulphur, broken glass, turpentine, &c., to be thrown from a mortar into a town, to set fire to buildings.  It has two or three apertures, from which the fire blazes, and the light sometimes serves as a direction in throwing shells.  It is equipped with pistol-barrels, loaded with powder to the muzzle, which explode as the composition burns down to them.  This instrument is probably named from the ribs of iron that form it, which resemble the ribs of a human carcass.


Topic: Card
Definition:
CARD, n.
1.  A paper or pasteboard of a oblong figure, on which are painted figures or points; used in games.
2.  A blank piece of paper, or the like paper with some writing upon it, used in messages of civility, or business.
3.  The paper on which the points of the compass are marked.
Reason the card, but passion is the gale.
CARD, v.i.  To play much at cards; to gain.
CARD, n.  An instrument for combing, opening and breaking wool or flax, freeing it from the coarser parts, and from extraneous matter.  It is made by inserting bent teeth of wire in a thick piece of leather, and nailing this to a piece of oblong board, to which a handle is attached.
CARD, v.t.  To comb, or open wool, flax, hemp, &c., with a card, for the purpose of cleansing it of extraneous matter, separating the coarser parts, and making it fine and soft for spinning.


Topic: Cardamom
Definition:
CARDAMOM, n.  A plant of the genus Amomum, and its seeds, a native of India.  The seeds of this plant, which grow in a pod, have a warm aromatic flavor, and are used in medicine.


Topic: Cardialgy
Definition:
CARDIALGY, n.  The heart-burn, a violent sensation of heat and acrimony in the upper or left orifice of the stomach, seemingly at the heart, but rising into the oesophagus.  It is called also the cardiac passion.


Topic: Cardinal
Definition:
CARDINAL, a.  Chief, principal, preeminent, or fundamental; as the cardinal virtues, which Pagans supposed to be justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude.
CARDINAL, n.
1.  An ecclesiastical prince in the Romish church, who has a voice in the conclave at the election of a Pope, who is taken from their number.  The cardinals are divided into three classes or orders, containing six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons, making seventy.  These constitute the sacred college, and compose the Popes council.  Originally they were subordinate in rank to bishops; but they have now the precedence.  The dress of a cardinal is a red soutaine or cassock, a rocket, a short purple mantle and a red hat.
2.  A womans cloke.
Cardinal-flower, a plant of the genus Lobelia, of many species.  They are fibrous-rooted perennials, rising from two to five or six feet high, with erect stalks, ornamented with oblong, oval, spear-shaped simple leaves, and spikes of beautiful monopetalous flowers of scarlet, blue and violet colors.  The natives of this country use a decoction of one species, the siphilitica, as a remedy in the venereal disease.
Cardinal numbers, are the numbers, one, two, three, &c., in distinction from first, second, third, &c., which are called ordinal numbers.
Cardinal points, in cosmography, are the four intersections of the horizon with the meridian, and the prime vertical circle, or North and South, East and West.  In astrology, the cardinal points are the rising and setting of the sun, the zenith and nadir.
Cardinal signs, in astronomy, are Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn.
Cardinal winds, are those which blow from the cardinal points.


Topic: Carding-machine
Definition:
CARDING-MACHINE, n.  A machine lately invented, for combing, breaking and cleansing wool and cotton.  It consists of cylinders, thick set with teeth, and moved by the force of water, steam, &c.


Topic: Cardoon
Definition:
CARDOON, n.  A species of Cynara, resembling the artichoke, but larger.ARD-TABLE, n.  The table appropriated to the use of gamesters, or used for playing cards on.


Topic: Care
Definition:
CARE, n.  
1.  Concern; anxiety; solicitude; nothing some degree of pain in the mind, from apprehension of evil.
They shall eat bread by weight and with care.  Ezek. 4.
2.  Caution; a looking to; regard; attention, or heed, with a view to safety or protection, as in the phrase, take care of yourself.
A want of care does more damage than a want of knowledge.
3.  Charge or oversight, implying concern for safety and prosperity; as, he was under the care of a physician.
That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.  2 Cor. 6.
4.  The object of care, or watchful regard and attention; as, Is she thy care?
CARE, v.t.
1.  To be anxious or solicitous; to be concerned about.
Master, carest thou not that we perish?  Mark 4.
2.  To be inclined or disposed; to have regard to; with for before a noun, and to before a verb.  Not caring to observe the wind.  Great masters in painting never care for drawing people in the fashion.  In this sense the word implies a less degree of concern.  The different degrees of anxiety expressed by this word constitute the chief differences in its signification or applications.


Topic: Care-crazed
Definition:
CARE-CRAZED, a. [care and craze.] Broken or disordered by care, or solicitude; as a care-crazed mother.


Topic: Careen
Definition:
CAREEN, v.t.  In sea language, to heave or bring a ship to lie on one side, for the purpose of calking, repairing, cleansing, or paying over with pitch, the other side.
CAREEN, v.i.  To incline to one side, as a ship under a press of sail.


Topic: Careening
Definition:
CAREENING, ppr.  Heaving down on one side; inclining.
CAREENING, n.  The act of heaving down on one side, as a ship.


Topic: Career
Definition:
CAREER, n.  
1.  A course; a race, or running; a rapid running; speed in motion.
2.  General course of action or movement; procedure; course of proceeding.
Continue and proceed in honors fair career.
3.  The ground on which a race is run.
4.  In the manege, a place inclosed with a barrier, in which they run the ring.
5.  In falconry, a flight or tour of the hawk, about 120 yards.
CAREER, v.i.  To move or run rapidly.
When a ship is decked out in all her canvas, every sail swelled, and careering gayly over the curling waves, how lofty, how gallant she appears!


Topic: Careful
Definition:
CAREFUL, a. [See Care.] 
1.  Full of care; anxious; solicitous.
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.  Luke 10.
2.  Provident; attentive to support and protect; with of or for.
Thou hast been careful for us with all care.  2 Kings 4.
What could a careful father more have done.  Dryden.
In present usage careful is generally followed by of; as, careful of health.
3.  Watchful; cautious; giving good heed; as, be careful to maintain good works; be careful of your conversation.
4.  Filling with care or solicitude; exposing to concern, anxiety or trouble; full of cares.
Raised to a careful height.


Topic: Carefully
Definition:
CAREFULLY, adv.  
1.  With care, anxiety, or solicitude.
Though he sought it carefully with tears.  Heb. 12.
2.  Heedfully; watchfully; attentively; as, consider these precepts carefully.
If thou carefully hearken to the Lord.  Deut. 9.
3.  In a manner that shows care.
Envy, how carefully does it look.  Collier.
4.  Providently; cautiously..


Topic: Carefulness
Definition:
CAREFULNESS, n.  
1.  Anxiety; solicitude.
Drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness.  Ezek. 12.
2.  Heedfulness; caution; vigilance, in guarding against evil, and providing for safety.


Topic: Careless
Definition:
CARELESS, a. [care and less.  See Loose.]
1.  Having no care; heedless; negligent; unthinking; inattentive; regardless; unmindful; followed by of or about; as a careless mother; a mother careless of or about her children, is an unnatural parent.
2.  Free from care or anxiety; whence, undisturbed; cheerful.
Thus wisely careless, innocently gay.
3.  Done or said without care; unconsidered; as a careless throw; a careless expression.
4.  Not regarding with care; unmoved by; unconcerned for; as, careless of money; careless of consequences.
5.  Contrived without art.


Topic: Carelessly
Definition:
CARELESSLY, adv.  In a careless manner or way; negligently; heedlessly; inattentively; without care or concern.


Topic: Caress
Definition:
CARESS, v.t.  To treat with fondness, affection, or kindness; to fondle; to embrace with tender affection; as a parent a child.
CARESS, n.  An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing with tenderness; as conjugal caresses.


Topic: Caret
Definition:
CARET, n.  In writing, this mark ^, which shows that something, omitted in the line, is interlined above, or inserted in the margin, and should be read in that place.


Topic: Cargo
Definition:
CARGO, n.  The lading or freight of a ship; the goods, merchandize, or whatever is conveyed in a ship or other merchant vessel.  The lading within the hold is called the inboard cargo, in distinction from horses, cattle and other things carried on deck.  The person employed by a merchant to proceed with, oversee and dispose of the lading, is called a supercargo.


Topic: Cargoose
Definition:
CARGOOSE, n.  A fowl belonging to the genus Colymbus, called the crested diver.  The cheeks and throat are surrounded with a long pendant ruff, of a bright tawny color, edged with black.  The breast and belly are of a silvery white.  It weighs two pounds and a half.


Topic: Caricature
Definition:
CARICATURE, n.  A figure or description in which beauties are concealed and blemishes exaggerated, but still bearing a resemblance to the object.
CARICATURE, v.t.  To make or draw a caricature; to represent as more ugly than the life.


Topic: Caricous
Definition:
CARICOUS, a.  Resembling a fig an epithet given to tumors that resemble a fig, such as occur often in the piles.


Topic: Carillon
Definition:
CARILLON, n.  A little bell.  Also, a simple air in music, adapted to the performance of small bells or clocks. [See Carol.]


Topic: Cark
Definition:
CARK, n.  Care; anxiety; concern; solicitude; distress.
CARK, v.i.  To be careful, anxious, solicitous, concerned.


Topic: Carle
Definition:
CARLE, n.  
1.  A rude, rustic, rough, brutal man.
2.  A kind of hemp.
CARLE, v.i.  To act like a churl.


Topic: Carline-thistle
Definition:
CARLINE-THISTLE, n.  A genus of plants growing in the south of France, and one a native of Great Britain.


Topic: Carling
Definition:
CARLING, n.  A piece of timber in a ship, ranging fore and aft, from one deck beam to another, directly over the keel, serving as a foundation for the body of the ship.  On these rest the ledges, on which the planks of the deck are made fast.
Carline-knees are timbers in a ship, lying across from the sides to the hatchway, and serving to sustain the deck.


Topic: Carlock
Definition:
CARLOCK, n.  A sort of isinglass from Russia, made of the sturgeons bladder, and used in clarifying wine.


Topic: Carman
Definition:
CARMAN, n. [car and man.] A man whose employment is to drive a cart, or to convey goods and other things in a cart.


Topic: Carmine
Definition:
CARMINE, n.  A powder or pigment, of a beautiful red or crimson color, bordering on purple, and used by painters in miniature, though rarely, on account of its great price.  It is prepared by dissolving cochineal in an alkaline lye, and precipitating it by alum.


Topic: Carnage
Definition:
CARNAGE, n.  
1.  Literally, flesh, or heaps of flesh, as in shambles.
2.  Slaughter; great destruction of men; havock; massacre.


Topic: Carnal
Definition:
CARNAL, a.
1.  Pertaining to flesh; fleshly; sensual; opposed to spiritual; as carnal pleasure.
2.  Being in the natural state; unregenerate.
The carnal mind is enmity against God.  Rom. 8.
3.  Pertaining to the ceremonial law; as carnal ordinances.  Heb. 9:10.
4.  Lecherous; lustful; libidinous; given to sensual indulgence.
Carnal-knowledge, sexual intercourse.


Topic: Carnality
Definition:
CARNALITY, n.  
1.  Fleshly lust, or desires, or the indulgence of those lusts; sensuality.
2.  Grossness of mind or desire; love of sensual pleasures.


Topic: Carnally
Definition:
CARNALLY, adv.  In a carnal manner; according to the flesh; in a manner to gratify the flesh or sensual desire.  Lev. 18:20.  Rom. 8:6.


Topic: Carnation
Definition:
CARNATION, n.  
1.  Flesh color; the parts of a picture which are naked, or without drapery, exhibiting the natural color of the flesh.
2.  A genus of plants, Dianthus, so named from the color of the flower.  Among these are the clove-gilliflower, sweet-william, Indian pink, &c.


Topic: Carnaval
Definition:
CARNAVAL, n.  The feast or season of rejoicing, before Lent, observed, in Catholic countries, with great solemnity, by feasts, balls, operas, concerts, &c.


Topic: Carnelian
Definition:
CARNELIAN, n.  A siliceous stone, a variety of chalcedony, of a deep red, flesh-red, or reddish white color.  It is tolerably hard, capable of a good polish, and used for seals.
Carnel-work, in ship building, is the putting together the timbers, beams and planks, as distinguished from clinch-work.


Topic: Carnivorous
Definition:
CARNIVOROUS, a.  Eating or feeding on flesh; an epithet applied to animals which naturally seek flesh for food, as the lion, tiger, dog, wolf, &c.


Topic: Carob
Definition:
CAROB, n.  The carob-tree, Ceratonia siliqua, a native of Spain, Italy, and the Levant.  It is an evergreen, growing in hedges, and producing long, flat, brown-colored pods, filled with a mealy, succulent pulp, of a sweetish taste.  In times of scarcity, these pods are eaten by poor people, but they are apt to cause griping and lax bowels.


Topic: Carol
Definition:
CAROL, n.  A song of joy and exultation; a song of devotion; or a song in general.
CAROL, v.i.  To sing; to warble; to sing in joy or festivity.
CAROL, v.t.  To praise or celebrate in song.


Topic: Carolina
Definition:
CAROLINA, n.  The name of two of the Atlantic States in North America, called North Carolina and South Carolina.


Topic: Carotid
Definition:
CAROTID, a.  The carotid arteries, in the body, are two arteries, the right and left, which convey the blood from the aorta to the head and brain.  The ancients supposed drowsiness to be seated in these arteries.


Topic: Carousal
Definition:
CAROUSAL, n. s as z. [See Carouse.] A feast or festival.
But in America it signifies a noisy drinking bout, or reveling.


Topic: Carouse
Definition:
CAROUSE, v.i.  carouz.  To drink hard; to guzzle.  In the United States, it signifies also to be noisy, as bacchanalians.
CAROUSE, n.  A drinking match; a hearty drink or full draught of liquor; a noisy drinking match.


Topic: Carp
Definition:
CARP, v.i.  Literally, to snap or catch at, or to pick.  Hence, to censure, cavil, or find fault, particularly without reason, or petulantly; followed by at.
No, not a tooth or nail to scratch
And at my actions carp and catch.  Herbert.
CARP, n.  A fish, a species of cyprinus, an excellent fish for ponds.  These fishes breed rapidly, grow to a large size, and live to a great age.


Topic: Carpathian
Definition:
CARPATHIAN, a.  Pertaining to the Carpates, a range of mountains between Poland, Hungary and Transylvania.


Topic: Carpenter
Definition:
CARPENTER, n.  An artificer who works in timber; a framer and builder of houses, and of ships.  Those who build houses are called house-carpenters, and those who build ships are called ship-carpenters.
In New England, a distinction is often made between the man who frames, and the man who executes the interior wood-work of a house.  The framer is the carpenter, and the finisher is called joiner.  This distinction is noticed by Johnson, and seems to be a genuine English distinction.  But in some other parts of America, as in New-York, the term carpenter includes both the framer and the joiner; and in truth both branches of business are often performed by the same person.  The word is never applied, as in Italy and Spain, to a coach-maker.


Topic: Carpentry
Definition:
CARPENTRY, n.  The art of cutting, framing, and joining timber, in the construction of buildings; divided into house-carpentry and ship-carpentry.


Topic: Carpet
Definition:
CARPET, n.  
1.  A covering for floors, tables, stairs, &c.  This covering is usually made of wool, wrought with a needle, or more generally in a loom, but is sometimes made of other materials.  The manufacture is of Asiatic origin, but has been introduced into many parts of Europe, and into the United States.
2.  Level ground covered, as with grass; as a grassy carpet; a carpet of green grass.
To be on the carpet, is to be under consideration; to be the subject of deliberation.  The French phrase, to be on the tapis, is used in the like sense.
Carpet-knight, in Shakspeare, is a knight who enjoys ease and security, or luxury, and has not known the hardships of the field.
Carpet-monger is used in a like sense.
CARPET, v.t.  To cover with a carpet; to spread with carpets.


Topic: Carping
Definition:
CARPING, ppr.  Caviling; captious; censorious.
CARPING, n.  The act of caviling; a cavil; unreasonable censure.


Topic: Carriage
Definition:
CARRIAGE, n.
1.  The act of carrying, bearing, transporting, or conveying; as the carriage of sounds.
2.  The act of taking by an enemy; conquest; acquisition.
3.  That which carries, especially on wheels; a vehicle.  This is a general term for a coach, chariot, chaise, gig, sulkey, or other vehicle on wheels, as a cannon-carriage on trucks, a block-carriage for mortars, and a truck-carriage.  Appropriately the word is applied to a coach; and carts and wagons are rarely or never called carriages.
4.  The price or expense of carrying.
5.  That which is carried; burden; as baggage, vessels, furniture, &c.
And David left his carriage in the hands of the keeper of the carriage.  1 Sam. 17.
6.  In a moral sense, the manner of carrying ones self; behavior; conduct; deportment; personal manners.
7.  Measures; practices; management.


Topic: Carrick-bend
Definition:
CARRICK-BEND, n. [See Carry.]
1.  One who carries; that which carries or conveys; also, a messenger.
2.  One who is employed to carry goods for others for a reward; also, one whose occupation is to carry goods for others, called a common carrier; a porter.
3.  A pigeon that conveys letters from place to place, the letters being tied to the neck.


Topic: Carrion
Definition:
CARRION, n.  
1.  The dead and putrefying body or flesh of animals; flesh so corrupted as to be unfit for food.
2.  A worthless woman; a term of reproach.
CARRION, a.  Relating to dead and putrefying carcasses; feeding on carrion, as a carrion-crow.


Topic: Carronade
Definition:
CARRONADE, n.  A short piece of ordnance, having a large caliber, and a chamber for the powder, like a mortar.  This species of cannon is carried on the upper works of ships, as the poop and forecastle, and is very useful in close engagements.


Topic: Carroon
Definition:
CARROON, n.  
1.  In London, a rent received for the privilege of driving a cart.
2.  A species of cherry.


Topic: Carrows
Definition:
CARROWS, n.  In Ireland, people who wander about and get their living by cards and dice; strolling gamesters.


Topic: Carry
Definition:
CARRY, v.t.  
1.  To bear, convey, or transport, by sustaining and moving the thing carried, either by bodily strength, upon a beast, in a vehicle, or in any kind of water-craft.  In general, it implies a moving from the speaker or the place present or near, to a place more distant, and so is opposed to bring and fetch, and it is often followed by from, away, off, out.
He shall carry the lambs in his bosom.  Is. 40.
When he dieth, he shall carry nothing away.  Ps. 49.
2.  To convey; as sound is carried in the air.
3.  To effect; to accomplish; to prevail; to gain the object; as, to carry a point, measure, or resolution; to carry a prize; to carry a fortified town by force of arms; sometimes followed by it.
Whose wills will carry it over the rest.
4.  To bear out; to face through.
If a man carries it off, there is so much money saved.
5.  To urge, impel, lead or draw, noting moral impulse.
Pride or passion will carry a man to great lengths.
Men are carried away with imaginary prospects.  See Eph. 4:14.  Heb. 13:9.
6.  To bear; to have.
In some vegetables, we see something that carries a kind of analogy to sense.
7.  To bear; to show, display or exhibit to view.
The aspect of every one in the family carries satisfaction.
8.  To imply or import.
To quit former tenets carries an imputation of ignorance.
9.  To contain or comprise.
He thought it carried something of argument in it, to prove that doctrine.
10.  To extend or continue in time, as to carry a historical account to the first ages of the world; but usually with a particle, as to carry up or carry back, to carry forward.
11.  To extend in space, as to carry a line or a boundary; or in a moral sense, as to carry ideas very far.
12.  To support or sustain.
Carry camomile on sticks.
13.  To bear or produce, as trees.
Set them a reasonable depth, and they will carry more shoots upon the stem.
14.  To manage or transact, usually with on; as, to carry on business.
15.  To carry ones self, to behave, conduct or demean.
He carried himself insolently.  Sometimes with it; as, he carried it high.
16.  To remove, lead or drive.
And he carried away all his cattle.  Gen. 31.
17.  To remove; to cause to go.
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel to Assyria.  2 Kings 18.
18.  To transport; to affect with extraordinary impressions on the mind.  Rev. 17.
19.  To fetch and bring.
Young whelps learn easily to carry.
20.  To transfer; as, to carry an account to the ledger.
War was to be diverted from Greece by being carried into Asia.
To carry coals, to bear injuries.
To carry off, to remove to a distance; also, to kill, as to be carried off by sickness.
To carry on, 
1.  to promote, advance, or help forward; to continue; as, to carry on a design; to carry on the administration of grace.
2.  To manage or prosecute; as, to carry on husbandry.
3.  To prosecute, continue or pursue; as, to carry on trade or war.
To carry through, to support to the end; to sustain or keep from failing, or being subdued.
Grace will carry a man through all difficulties.  Hammond.
To carry out, to bear from within; also, to sustain to the end; to continue to the end.
To carry away, in seamanship, is to break; to carry sail till a spar breaks; as, to carry away a fore-topmast.
CARRY, v.i.  
1.  To run on rotten ground, or on frost, which sticks to the feet, as a hare.
2.  To bear the head in a particular manner, as a horse.  When a horse holds his head high, with an arching neck, he is said to carry well.  When he lowers his head too much, he is said to carry low.
3.  To convey; to propel; as, a gun or mortar carries well; but this is elliptical.


Topic: Carrying
Definition:
CARRYING, ppr.  Bearing, conveying, removing, &c.
CARRYING, n.  A bearing, conveying, removing, transporting.
Carrying trade, the trade which consists in the transportation of goods by water from country to country, or place to place.
We are rivals with them in navigation and the carrying trade.  Federalist, Jay.
Carrying wind, among horsemen, is a tossing of the nose, as high as the horses ears.


Topic: Cart
Definition:
CART, n.  
1.  A carriage with two wheels, fitted to be drawn by one horse, or by a yoke of oxen, and used in husbandry or commercial cities for carrying heavy commodities.  In Great Britain, carts are usually drawn by horses.  In America, horse-carts are used mostly in cities, and ox-carts in the country.
2.  A carriage in general.
CART, v.t. 
1.  To carry or convey on a cart; as, to cart hay.
2.  To expose in a cart, by way of punishment.


Topic: Cart-bote
Definition:
CART-BOTE, n.  In English law, wood to which a tenant is entitled for making and repairing carts and other instruments of husbandry.


Topic: Cart-load
Definition:
CART-LOAD, n.  A load borne on a cart; as much as is usually carried at once on a cart, or as is sufficient to load it.


Topic: Cart-wright
Definition:
CART-WRIGHT, n.  An artificer who makes carts.
Carte-blanche.  A blank paper, signed at the bottom with a persons name, and sometimes sealed with his seal, given to another person with permission to superscribe what conditions he pleases.


Topic: Cartel
Definition:
CARTEL, n.  
1.  A writing or agreement between states at war, for the exchange of prisoners, or for some mutual advantage; also, a vessel employed to convey the messenger on this occasion.
2.  A letter of defiance or challenge; a challenge to single combat.  This sense the word has still in France and Italy; but with us it is obsolete.
Cartel-ship, is a ship employed in the exchange of prisoners, or in carrying propositions to an enemy.
CARTEL, v.i.  To defy.


Topic: Cartesian
Definition:
CARTESIAN, a.  Pertaining to the philosopher Des Cartes, or to his philosophy, which taught the doctrine of vortexes round the sun and planets.
CARTESIAN, n.  One who adopts the philosophy of Des Cartes.


Topic: Carthaginian
Definition:
CARTHAGINIAN, a.  Pertaining to ancient Carthage, a celebrated city on the Northern Coast of Africa, about twelve miles from the modern Tunis.  It was founded by the Phenicians, and destroyed by the Romans.
CARTHAGINIAN, n.  An inhabitant or native of Carthage.


Topic: Carthusian
Definition:
CARTHUSIAN, n.  One of an order of monks, so called from Chartreuse, the place of their institution.  They are remarkable for their austerity.  They cannot go out of their cells, except to church, nor speak to any person without leave.


Topic: Cartilage
Definition:
CARTILAGE, n.  Gristle; a smooth, solid, elastic substance, softer than bone, of a pearly color and homogeneous texture, without cells or cavities.  It is invested with a particular membrane called perichondrium, which in the articular cartilages, is a reflexion of the synovial membrane.


Topic: Cartilaginous
Definition:
CARTILAGINOUS, a.  
1.  Pertaining to or resembling a cartilage; gristly; consisting of cartilage.
2.  In ichthyology, cartilaginous fishes are those whose muscles are supported by cartilages instead of bones, or whose skeleton is cartilaginous.  Many of these are viviparous, as the ray and shark, whose young are excluded from an egg hatched within them.  Others are oviparous, as the sturgeon.  Some of them have no gill-covers, but breathe through apertures, on the sides of the neck or top of the head; others have gill-covers, but destitute of bony rays.


Topic: Cartoon
Definition:
CARTOON n.  In painting, a design drawn on strong paper, to be afterward calked through and transferred on the fresh plaster of a wall, to be painted in fresco.  Also, a design colored for working in Mosaic, tapestry &c.


Topic: Cartouch
Definition:
CARTOUCH, n.  
1.  A case of wood, about three inches thick at the bottom girt with marlin, holding about four hundred musket balls, and six or eight iron balls of a pound weight, to be fired out of a howitz, for defending a pass.  A cartouch is sometimes made of a globular form, and filled with a ball of a pound weight; and sometimes for guns, being of a ball of a half or quarter of a pound weight, tied in the form of a bunch of grapes, on a tompion of wood and coated over.
2.  A portable box for charges. [See Cartridge-box.]
3.  A roll or scroll on the cornice of a column.


Topic: Cartridge
Definition:
CARTRIDGE, n. [a corruption of cartouch.] A case of pasteboard or parchment, holding the charge of powder or powder and balls, for a cannon, mortar, musket or pistol.  The cartridges for small arms, prepared for battle, contain the powder and ball; those for cannon and mortars are made  of paste-board, or tin.  Cartridges, without balls, are called blank cartridges.


Topic: Cartridge-box
Definition:
CARTRIDGE-BOX, n.  A case, usually of wood, covered with leather, with cells for cartridges.  It is worn upon a belt thrown over the left shoulder, and hangs a little below the pocket-hole on the right side.


Topic: Cartulary
Definition:
CARTULARY, n.  A register-book, or record, as of a monastery.  Blackstone writes it chartulary; and primarily it signifies the officer who has the care of charters and other public papers.


Topic: Caruncle
Definition:
CARUNCLE, n. 
1.  A small fleshy excrescence, either natural or morbid.
2.  The fleshy comb on the head of a fowl.


Topic: Carve
Definition:
CARVE, v.t.
1.  To cut into small pieces or slices, as meat at tale.
2.  To cut wood, stone or other material into some particular form, with an instrument, usually a chisel; to engrave; to cut figures or devices on hard materials.
3.  To make or shape by cutting; as, to carve an image.
4.  To apportion; to distribute; to provide at pleasure; to select and take, as to ones self, or to select and give to another.
5.  To cut; to hew.
To care out, is to cut out, or to lay out, by design; to plan.
CARVE, v.t.  
1.  To cut up meat; followed sometimes by for; as, to carve for all the quests.
2.  To exercise the trade of a sculptor.
3.  To engrave or cut figures.
CARVE, n.  A carucate.


Topic: Carvel
Definition:
CARVEL, n.  
1.  A small vessel on the coast of France, used in the herring fishery.  These vessels are usually from 25 to 30 tons burden.
2.  A light, round, old-fashioned ship.


Topic: Carver
Definition:
CARVER, n.  
1.  One who cuts meat at tale; a sculptor; one who apportions or distributes at will, or one who takes or gives at pleasure.
2.  A large table knife for carving.


Topic: Carving
Definition:
CARVING, ppr.  Cutting, dividing, as meat; cutting in stone, wood or metal; apportioning; distributing.
CARVING, n.  The act of cutting, as meat; the act or art of cutting figures in wood or stone; sculpture; figures carved.


Topic: Caryatides
Definition:
CARYATIDES, n.  In architecture, figures of women dressed in long robes, after the Asiatic manner, serving to support entablatures.  The Athenians had been long at war with the Caryans; the latter being at length vanquished and their wives led captive, the Greeks, to perpetuate this event, erected trophies, in which figures of women, dressed in the Caryatic manner, were used to support entablatures.  Other female figures were afterwards used in the same manner, but they were called by the same name.
They were called Caryatides, from Carya, a city in the Peloponnesus, which sided with the Persians, and on that account was sacked by the other Greeks, its males butchered, and its females reduced to slavery.


Topic: Caryon
Definition:
CARYON, v.t 
1. To sketch with a crayon. Hence, 
2. To sketch; to plan; to commit to paper ones first thoughts.


Topic: Casarca
Definition:
CASARCA, n.  A fowl of the genus Anas, called also ruddy-goose, larger than a mallard, found in Russia and Siberia.


Topic: Cascade
Definition:
CASCADE, n.  A waterfall; a steep fall or flowing of water over a precipice, in a river or natural stream; or an artificial fall in a garden.  The word is applied to falls that are less than a cataract.


Topic: Cascalho
Definition:
CASCALHO, n.  In Brazil, a deposit of pebbles, gravel and sand in which the diamond is usually found.


Topic: Case
Definition:
CASE, n.  
1.  A covering, box or sheath; that which incloses or contains; as a case for knives; a case for books; a watch case; a printers case; a pillow case.
2.  The outer part of a building.
3.  A certain quantity; as a case of crown glass.
4.  A building unfurnished.
CASE, v.t.  
1.  To cover with a case; to surround with any material that shall inclose or defend.
2.  To put in a case or box.
3.  To strip off a case, covering, or the skin.
CASE, n.  Literally, that which falls, comes, or happens; an event.  Hence, the particular state, condition, or circumstances that befall a person, or in which he is placed; as, make the case your own; this is the case with my friend; this is his present case.
2.  The state of the body, with respect to health or disease; as a case of fever; he is in a consumptive case; his case is desperate.
To be in good case, is to be fat, and this phrase is customarily abridged, to be in case; applied to beasts, but not to men, except in a sense rather ludicrous.
3.  A question; a state of facts involving a question for discussion or decision; as, the lawyer stated the case.
4.  A cause or suit in court; as, the case was tried at the last term.  In this sense, case is nearly synonymous with cause, whose primary sense is nearly the same.
5.  In grammar, the inflection of nouns, or a change of termination, to express a difference of relation in the word to others, or to the thing represented.  The variation of nouns and adjectives is called declension; both case and declension signifying, falling or leaning from the first state of the word.  Thus, liber is a book; libri, of a book; libro, to a book.  In other words, case denotes a variation in the termination of a noun, to show how the noun acts upon the verb with which it is connected, or is acted upon by it, or by an agent.  The cases, except the nominative, are called oblique cases.
In case, is a phrase denoting condition or supposition; literally, in the event or contingency; if it should so fall out or happen.
Put the case, suppose the event, or a certain state of things.
Action on the case, in law, is an action in which the whole cause of complaint is set out in the writ.


Topic: Case-harden
Definition:
CASE-HARDEN, v.t.  To harden the outer part or superficies, as of iron, by converting it into steel.  This may be done by putting the iron into an iron box, with a cement, and exposing it, for some hours, to a red heat.


Topic: Casemate
Definition:
CASEMATE, n.  
1.  In fortification, a vault of masons work in the flank of a bastion, next to the curtain, somewhat inclined toward the capital of the bastion, serving as a battery to defend the face of the opposite bastion, and the moat or ditch.
2.  A well, with its subterraneous branches, dug in the passage of the bastion, till the miner is heard at work, and air given to the mine.


Topic: Casement
Definition:
CASEMENT, n.  
1.  A hollow molding, usually one sixth or one fourth of a circle.
2.  A little movable window, usually within a large, made to turn and open on hinges.


Topic: Casern
Definition:
CASERN, n.  A lodging for soldiers in garrison towns, usually near the rampart, containing each two beds.


Topic: Cash
Definition:
CASH, n.  Money; primarily, ready money, money in chest or on hand, in bank or at command.  It is properly silver and gold; but since the institution of banks, it denotes also bank notes equivalent to money.  To pay in cash is opposed to payment in goods, commodities, or labor, as in barter.
CASH, v.t.  
1.  To turn into money, or to exchange for money; as, to cash a note or an order.
2.  To pay money for; as, the clerks of a bank cash notes when presented.
CASH, v.t.  To discard.


Topic: Cashew-nut
Definition:
CASHEW-NUT, n.  A tree of the West-Indies, Anacardium, bearing a kidney-shaped nut.  The fruit is as large as an orange, and full of an acid juice, which is often used to make punch.  To the apex of this fruit grows a nut, of the size of a hares kidney, the shell of which is hard, and the kernel, which is sweet, is covered with a thin film.


Topic: Cashier
Definition:
CASHIER, n.  One who has charge of money; as cash-keeper.  In a banking institution, the cashier is the officer who superintends the books, payments and receipts of the bank.  He also signs or countersigns the notes, and superintends all the transactions, under the order of the directors.
CASHIER, v.t.  
1.  To dismiss from an office or place of trust, by annulling the commission; to break, as for mal-conduct, and therefore with reproach; as, to cashier an officer of the army.
2.  To dismiss or discard from service or from society.
3.  To reject; to annul or vacate.


Topic: Casing
Definition:
CASING, ppr.  Covering with a case.
CASING, n.  
1.  The act or operation of plastering a house with mortar on the outside, and striking it while wet, by a ruler, with the corner of a trowel, to make it resemble the joints of free-stone.
2.  A covering; a case.


Topic: Cask
Definition:
CASK, n.  A head-piece; a helmet; a piece of defensive armor, to cover and protect the head and neck, in battle.
CASK, n.  A close vessel for containing liquors, formed by staves, heading and hoops.  This is a general term comprehending the pipe, hogshead, butt, barrel, &c.


Topic: Casket
Definition:
CASKET, n.
1.  A small chest or box, for jewels or other small articles.
2.  In seamens language, a small rope, fastened to gromets or little rings upon the yards, used to fasten the sail to the yard in furling.
This is usually written gasket.


Topic: Cassavi
Definition:
CASSAVI, n.  A plant, of the genus Jatropha, of different species.  The roots of the manihot or bitter cassada, and of the janipha, are made into a kind of bread which serves for food to the natives of Africa and the West Indies, and they are also roasted and eaten like potatoes.  They yield also a great quantity of starch, which the Brasilians export in small lumps under the name of tapioca.


Topic: Cassia
Definition:
CASSIA, n.  A genus of plants of many species, among which are the fistula, or purging cassia, and the senna.  The former is a native of Egypt and both Indies; the latter is a native of Persia, Syria and Arabia.  The latter is a shrubby plant, the leaves of which are much used in medicine.  The purging cassia is the pulp of the pods, and is a gentle laxative.
Cassia is also the name of a species of Laurus, the bark of which usually passes under the name of cinnamon, differing from real cinnamon chiefly in the strength of its qualities.  From a plant of this kind was extracted an aromatic oil, used as a perfume by the Jews.


Topic: Cassidony
Definition:
CASSIDONY, n.  A species of plant, Gnaphalium, cotton-weed, cudweed or goldylocks; also, Lavandula stoechas or French lavender.


Topic: Cassiobury
Definition:
CASSIOBURY, n.  A species of plant, of the genus Cassine, of which the most remarkable species is the Yapon of the Southern States of America.  The berries are of a beautiful red color.
The Yapon is now arranged in the genus Ilex.


Topic: Cassiopeia
Definition:
CASSIOPEIA, n.  A constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, situated near to Cepheus, as the fabulous Cassiopeia was wife to Cepheus, king of Ethiopia.  It contains fifty five stars.


Topic: Cassiteria
Definition:
CASSITERIA, n.  A kind of crystals which appear to have an admixture of tin.  The color is brown or whitish.


Topic: Cassock
Definition:
CASSOCK, n.  A robe or gown worn over the other garments, particularly by the clergy.  A close garment, now generally that which clergymen wear under their gowns.


Topic: Cassowary
Definition:
CASSOWARY, n.  A large fowl of the genus Struthio, nearly as large as the ostrich, but its legs are thicker and stronger in proportion.  The wings are so small as not to appear, being hid under the feathers.  The head is armed with a helmet of horny substance, consisting of plates one over another.  It runs with great rapidity, outstripping the swiftest racer.  It is now arranged in a separate genus, Casuarius.


Topic: Cast
Definition:
CAST, v.t. pret. And pp. cast.
1.  To throw, fling or send; that is, to drive from, by force, as from the hand, or from an engine.
Hagar cast the child under a shrub.  Gen. 21.
Uzziah prepared slings to cast stones.  2 Ch. 26.
2.  To sow; to scatter seed.
If a man should cast seen into the ground.  Mark 4.
3.  To drive or impel by violence.
A mighty west wind cast the locusts into the sea.  Ex. 10.
4.  To shed or throw off; as, trees cast their fruit; a serpent casts his skin.
5.  To throw or let fall; as, to cast anchor.  Hence, to east anchor is to moor, as a ship, the effect of casting the anchor.
6.  To throw, as dice or lots; as, to cast lots.
7.  To throw on the ground, as in wrestling.
8.  To throw away, as worthless.
His carcase was cast in the way.  1 Kings 13.
9.  To emit or throw out.
This casts a sulphurous smell.
10.  To throw, to extend, as a trench or rampart, including the sense of digging, raising, or forming.
Thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee.  Luke 19.
11.  To thrust; as, to cast into prison.
12.  To put, or set, in a particular state.
Both chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep.  Ps. 76.
13.  To condemn; to convict; as a criminal.
Both tried and both were cast.
14.  To overcome in a civil suit, or in any contest of strength or skill; as, to cast the defendant or an antagonist.
15.  To cashier or discard.
16.  To lay aside, as unfit for use; to reject; as a garment.
17.  To make to preponderate; to throw into one scale, for the purpose of giving it superior weight; to decide by a vote that gives a superiority in numbers; as, to cast the balance in ones favor; a casting vote or voice.
18.  To throw together several particulars, to find the sum; as, to cast accounts.  Hence, to throw together circumstances and facts, to find the result; to compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast the event of war.
To cast and see how many things there are which a man cannot do himself.
19.  To contrive; to plan.
20.  To judge, or to consider, in order to judge.
21.  To fix, or distribute the parts of a play among the actors.
22.  To throw, as the sight; to direct, or turn, as the eye; to glance; as, to cast a look, or glance, or the eye.
23.  To found; to form into a particular shape, by pouring liquid metal into a mold; to run; as, to cast cannon.
Thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it.  Ex. 25.
24.  Figuratively, to shape; to form by a model.
25.  To communicate; to spread over; as, to cast a luster upon posterity; to cast splendor upon actions, or light upon a subject.
To cast aside, to dismiss or reject as useless or inconvenient.
To cast away, to reject.  Lev. 26.  Is. 5.  Rom. 11.  Also, to throw away; to lavish or waste by profusion; to turn to no use; as, to cast away life.
Also, to wreck, as a ship.
To cast by, to reject; to dismiss or discard with neglect or hate, or as useless.
To cast down, to throw down; to deject or depress the mind.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul.  Ps. 42.
To cast forth, to throw out, or eject, as from an inclosed place; to emit, or send abroad; to exhale.
To cast off, to discard or reject; to drive away; to put off; to put away; to disburden.  Among huntsmen, to leave behind, as dogs; to set loose, or free.  Among seamen, to loose, or untie.
To cast out, to send forth; to reject or turn out; to throw out, as words; to speak or give vent to.
To cast up, to compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast up accounts, or the cost.  Also, to eject; to vomit.
To cast on, to refer or resign to.
To cast ones self on, to resign or yield ones self to the disposal of, without reserve.
To cast young, to miscarry; to suffer abortion.  Gen. 32.
To cast in the teeth, to upbraid; to charge; to twit.  So in Danish, kaster in I noesen, to cast in the nose.
CAST, v.i.
1.  To throw forward, as the thoughts, with a view to some determination; or to turn or revolve in the mind; to contrive; sometimes followed by about.
I cast in careful mind to seek her out.  Spenser.
To cast about how to perform or obtain.  Bacon.
2.  To receive form or shape.
Metal will cast and mold.
3.  To warp; to twist from regular shape.
Stuff is said to cast or warp, when it alters its flatness or straightness.
Note.  Cast, like throw and warp, implies a winding motion.
4.  In seamens language, to fall off, or incline, so as to bring the side of a ship to the wind;  applied particularly to a ship riding with her head to the wind, when her anchor is first loosened.
CAST, n.
1.  The act of casting; a throw; the thing thrown; the form or state of throwing; kind or manner of throwing.
2.  The distance passed by a thing thrown; or the space through which a thing thrown may ordinarily pass; as, about a stones cast.  Luke 22.
3.  A stroke; a touch.
This was a cast of Woods politics.
4.  Motion or turn of the eye; direction, look or glance; a squinting.
Thy let you see by one cast of the eye.
5.  A throw of dice; hence, a state of chance or hazard.
It is an even cast, whether the army should march this way or that way.
Hence the phrase, the last cast, is used to denote that all is ventured on one throw, or one effort.
6.  Form; shape.
A heroic poem in another cast.
7.  A tinge; a slight coloring, or slight degree of a color; as a cast of green.  Hence, a slight alteration in external appearance.
The native hue of resolution is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought.  Shak.
8.  Manner; air; mien; as, a peculiar cast of countenance.  This sense implies, the turn or manner of throwing; as, the neat cast f verse.
9.  A flight; a number of hawks let go at once.
10.  A small statue of bronze.
11.  Among founders, a tube of wax, fitted into a mold, to give shape to metal.
12.  A cylindrical piece of brass or copper, slit in two lengthwise, to form a canal or conduit, in a mold, for conveying metal.
13.  Among plumbers, a little brazen funnel, at one end of a mold, for casting pipes without sodering, by means of which the melted metal is poured into the mold.
14.  A breed, race, lineage, kind, sort.
15.  In Hindoostan, a tribe or class of the same rank or profession; as the cast of Bramins, or priests; of rajahs, or princes; of choutres, or artificers; and of parias, or poor people.  Or according to some writers, of Bramins; of cuttery, or soldiers; of shuddery, or merchants; and of wyse, or mechanics.
The four casts of the Hindoos are the Brahmins or sacred order; the Chechteres or soldiers and rulers; the Bice, Vaissya, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sooders, Sudras, or laborers and mechanics.
16.  A trick.


Topic: Castalian
Definition:
CASTALIAN, a.  Pertaining to Castalia, a cool spring on Parnassus, sacred to the muses; as Castalian fount.


Topic: Castanet
Definition:
CASTANET, n.  An instrument of music formed of small concave shells of ivory or hard wood, shaped like spoons, placed together, fastened to the thumb and beat with the middle finger.  This instrument is used by the Spaniards, Moors and Bohemians, as an accompaniment to their dances, sarabands and guitars.


Topic: Castaway
Definition:
CASTAWAY, n.  That which is thrown away.  A person abandoned by God, as unworthy of his favor; a reprobate.  1 Cor. 9:27.
CASTAWAY, a.  Rejected; useless; of no value.


Topic: Castellan
Definition:
CASTELLAN, n.  A governor or constable of a castle.  In Poland, the name of a dignity or charge; a kind of lieutenant of a province, commanding part of a palatinate under a palatine.  The castellans are senators, of the lower class, sitting, in the diets, on low seats behind the palatines.


Topic: Castellany
Definition:
CASTELLANY, n. [See Castle.] The lordship belonging to a castle; or the extent, of its land and jurisdiction.


Topic: Castellated
Definition:
CASTELLATED, a.
1.  Inclosed in a building, as a fountain or cistern.
2.  Adorned with turrets, and battlements, like a castle.


Topic: Caster
Definition:
CASTER, n.  
1.  One who throws or casts; one who computes; a calculator; one who calculates fortunes.
2.  A small phial or vessel for the table; as a set of casters.
3.  A small wheel on a swivel, on which furniture is cast, or rolled, on the floor.


Topic: Castigation
Definition:
CASTIGATION, n.  
1.  Punishment; correction; penance; discipline; emendation; restraint.
2.  Among the Romans, a military punishment inflicted on offenders, by beating with a wand or switch.


Topic: Castigatory
Definition:
CASTIGATORY, a.  Tending to correction; corrective; punitive.
CASTIGATORY, n.  An engine formerly used to punish and correct arrant scolds, called also a ducking stool, or trebucket.


Topic: Castilian
Definition:
CASTILIAN, a.  Pertaining to Castile in Spain.
CASTILIAN, n.  An inhabitant or native of Castile in Spain.


Topic: Casting
Definition:
CASTING, ppr.  Throwing; sending; computing; calculating; turning; giving a preponderancy; deciding; running, or throwing into a mold to give shape. [See Cast.]
CASTING, n.  
1.  The act of casting or founding.
2.  That which is cast in a mold; any vessel formed by casting melted metal into a mold, or in sand.
3.  The taking of casts and impressions of figures, busts, medals, &c.


Topic: Casting-voice
Definition:
CASTING-VOICE, n.  The vote of a presiding officer, in an assembly or council, which decides a question, when the votes of the assembly or house are equally divided between the affirmative and negative.
When there was an equal vote, the Governor had the casting voice.


Topic: Castle-builder
Definition:
CASTLE-BUILDER, n.  One who forms visionary schemes.
CASTLE-BUILDER, n.  The act of building castles in the air.


Topic: Castle-guard
Definition:
CASTLE-GUARD, n.  A feudal tenure, or knight service, which obliged the tenant to perform service within the realm, without limitation of time.


Topic: Castle-ward
Definition:
CASTLE-WARD, n.  An imposition laid upon subjects dwelling within a certain distance of a castle, for the purpose of maintaining watch and ward in the castle.


Topic: Castor
Definition:
CASTOR, n.
1.  A beaver, an amphibious quadruped, with a flat ovate tail, short ears, a blunt nose, small fore feet, and large hind feet.
2.  A reddish brown substance of a strong penetrating smell, taken from bags or cods in the groin of the beaver; a powerful antispasmodic.
3.  In astronomy, a moiety of the constellation Gemini, called also Apollo.
Castor and Pollux, in meterology, a fiery meteor, which, at sea, appears sometimes adhering to a part of a ship, in the form of one, two and even three or four balls.  When one is seen alone, it is called Helena, which portends that the severest part of the storm is yet to come.  Two appearing at once are denominated Castor and Pollux, or Tyndaridoe, and portend a cessation of the storm.


Topic: Castor-oil
Definition:
CASTOR-OIL, n.  The oil of the Ricinus, or Palma Christi, a plant of the West Indies, which grows to the highth of twenty feet, in one season.  The oil is obtained from the nuts or seeds by expression or decoction.  That obtained by decoction is preferred, as less liable to become rancid, being free from the mucilage and acrid matter, which is mixed with the oil when expressed.  It is a mild cathartic.


Topic: Castrate
Definition:
CASTRATE, v.t.  
1.  To geld; to deprive of the testicles; to emasculate.
2.  To take away or retrench, as the obscene parts of a writing.
3.  To take out a leaf or sheet from a book, and render it imperfect.


Topic: Castration
Definition:
CASTRATION, n.  The act of gelding; the act or practice of making eunuchs; the act of taking away the obscene parts of a writing; the act of taking out a leaf or sheet of a book.  In botany, the cutting off of the anthers, or tops of the stamens of flowers, before the ripening of the pollen.


Topic: Casual
Definition:
CASUAL, a.
1.  Falling; happening or coming to pass without design in the person or persons affected, and without being foreseen, or expected; accidental; fortuitous; coming by chance; as, the parties had a casual rencounter.
2.  Occasional; coming at certain times, without regularity, in distinction from stated, or regular; as casual expenses.
3.  Taking place, or beginning to exist without an efficient intelligent cause, and without design.
Atheists assert that the existence of things is casual.


Topic: Casualty
Definition:
CASUALTY, n. 
1.  Accident; that which comes by chance or without design, or without being foreseen; contingency.
2.  An accident that produces unnatural death; and by a metonymy, death, or other misfortune, occasioned by an accident.
3.  In Scots law, an emolument due from a vassal to his superior, beyond the stated yearly duties, upon certain casual events.


Topic: Casuist
Definition:
CASUIST, n.  One who studies and resolves cases of conscience.
The judgment of any casuist or leaned divine is not sufficient to give him confidence.
CASUIST, v.i.  To play the part of a casuist.


Topic: Casuistry
Definition:
CASUISTRY, n.  The science or doctrine of cases of conscience; the science of resolving cases of doubtful propriety, or of determining the lawfulness or unlawfulness of what a man may do, by rules and principles drawn from the scriptures, from the laws of society, or from equity and natural reason.
Casus foederia.  The case stipulated by treaty; that which comes within the terms of compact.


Topic: Cat
Definition:
CAT, n.  
1.  A name applied to certain species of carnivorous quadrupeds, of the genus Felis.  The domestic cat needs no description.  It is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful.  It is kept in houses, chiefly for the purpose of catching rats and mice.  The wild cat is much larger than the domestic cat.  It is a strong, ferocious animal, living in the forest, and very destructive to poultry and lambs.
The wild cat of Europe is of the same species with the domestic cat; the catamount, of N. America, is much larger and a distinct species.
2.  A ship formed on the Norwegian model, having a narrow stern, projecting quarters, and a deep waist.  It is strong built, from four to six hundred tons burthen, and employed in the coal trade.
3.  A strong tackle or combination of pulleys, to hook and draw an anchor perpendicularly up to the cat-head of a ship.
4.  A double tripod having six feet.
Cat of nine tails, an instrument of punishment, consisting of nine pieces of line or cord fastened to a piece of thick rope, and having three knots at intervals, used to flog offenders on board of ships.


Topic: Cat-block
Definition:
CAT-BLOCK, n.  A two or three fold block with an iron strop and large hook, used to draw up an anchor to the cat-head.


Topic: Cat-fish
Definition:
CAT-FISH, n.  A species of the Squalus, or shark.  The cat-fish of the N. American rivers is a species of Cottus, or bull-head.


Topic: Cat-gut
Definition:
CAT-GUT, n.  The intestines of sheep or lambs, dried and twisted together, used as strings for violins and other instruments, and for other purposes.  Great quantities are imported from Lyons and Italy.


Topic: Cat-harpings
Definition:
CAT-HARPINGS, n.  Ropes serving to brace in the shrouds of the lower masts behind their respective yards, to tighten the shrouds and give more rom to draw in the yards, when the whip is close hauled.


Topic: Cat-head
Definition:
CAT-HEAD, n.  A strong beam projecting horizontally horizontally over a ships bows, carrying two or three sheaves, about which a rope called the cat-fall passes, and communicates with the cat-block.


Topic: Cat-salt
Definition:
CAT-SALT, n.  A sort of salt beautifully granulated, formed out of the bittern or leach-brine, used for making hard soap.


Topic: Cat-tail
Definition:
CAT-TAIL, n.  
1.  A species of reed, of the genus Typha, the downy substance of which is used for stuffing mattresses, &c.
2.  A substance growing on nut-trees, pines, &c.


Topic: Catacaustic
Definition:
CATACAUSTIC, a.  Catacaustic curves, in geometry, are that species of caustic curves, which are formed by reflection.


Topic: Catachresis
Definition:
CATACHRESIS, n.  An abuse of a trope or of words; a figure in rhetoric, when one word is abusively put for another, or when a word is too far wrested from its true signification; as, a voice beautiful to the ear.
A catachresis is a trope which borrows the name of one thing to express another, or a harsh trope; as when Milton, speaking of Raphaels descent from heaven, says, he sails between worlds and worlds.  Here the novelty of the word sails enlivens the image.  So in scripture we read of the blood of the grape.  Deut. 32.


Topic: Catachrestical
Definition:
CATACHRESTICAL, a.  Belonging to a catachresis; forced; far-fetched; wrested from its natural sense.


Topic: Catacomb
Definition:
CATACOMB, n.  A cave, grotto or subterraneous place for the burial of the dead.  It is said to have been originally applied to the chapel of St. Sebastian in Rome, where the ancient Roman Calendars say, the body of St. Peter was deposited.  It is now applied to a vast number of subterraneous sepulchers, about three miles from Rome, in the Appian way; supposed to be the cells and caves in which the primitive Christians concealed themselves, and in which were deposited the bodies of the primitive martyrs.  These are visited by devout people, and relics are taken from them, baptized by the Pope and dispersed through Catholic countries.  Each catacomb is three feet broad and eight or ten high; along the side walls are sepulchral niches, closed with thick tiles or pieces of marble.  Catacombs are found also at Naples and in other places.


Topic: Catacoustics
Definition:
CATACOUSTICS, n.  That part of acoustics or the doctrine of sounds, which treats of reflected sounds.  But the distinction is deemed of little use.


Topic: Catagmatic
Definition:
CATAGMATIC, a.  That has the quality of consolidating broken parts; promoting the union of fractured bones.


Topic: Catalectic
Definition:
CATALECTIC, a.  Pertaining to metrical composition, or to measure.
Catalectic verses, are such as want either feet or syllables.


Topic: Catalogue
Definition:
CATALOGUE, n.  A list or enumeration of the names of men or things disposed in a certain order, often in alphabetical order; as a catalogue of the students of a college, or of books, or of the stars.
CATALOGUE, v.t.  To make a list of.


Topic: Catalpa
Definition:
CATALPA, n.  A large tree of Carolina and the South, which in blossom has a beautiful appearance.  It belongs to the genus Bignonia, or trumpet flower.


Topic: Catapelt
Definition:
CATAPELT, or CATAPULT, n.  A military engine used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for throwing stones, darts and arrows upon an enemy.  Some of these would throw a stone of a hundred pounds weight.


Topic: Cataphract
Definition:
CATAPHRACT, n.
1.  In the ancient military art, a piece of heavy defensive armor, formed of cloth or leather, strengthened with scales or links, used to defend the breast, or whole body, or even the horse as well as the rider.
2.  A horseman in complete armor.


Topic: Cataplasm
Definition:
CATAPLASM, n.  A poultice; a soft and moist substance to be applied to some part of the body, to excite or repel heat, or to relax the skin, &c.  When mustard is an ingredient, it is called a sinapism.


Topic: Cataract
Definition:
CATARACT, n.  
1.  A great fall of water over a precipice; as that of Niagara, of the Rhine, Danube and Nile.  It is a cascade upon a great scale.
The tremendous cataracts of America thundering in their solitudes.
2.  In medicine and surgery, an opacity of the cystaline lens, or its capsule; a disorder in the eye, by which the pupil, which is usually black and transparent, becomes opake, blue, gray, brown, &c., by which vision is impaired or destroyed.


Topic: Catarrh
Definition:
CATARRH, n.  catar.  A defluxion, or increased secretion of mucus from the membranes of the nose, fauces and bronchiae, with fever, sneezing cough, thirst, lassitude and loss of appetite, and sometimes an entire loss of taste; called also a cold, coryza.  An epidemic catarrh is called Influenza.


Topic: Catch
Definition:
CATCH, v.t.
1.  To seize or lay hold on with the hand; carrying the sense of pursuit, thrusting forward the hand, or rushing on.
And they came upon him and caught him.  Acts 6.
2.  To seize, in a general sense; as, to catch a ball; to catch hold of a bough.
3.  To seize, as in a snare or trap; to ensnare; to entangle.
They sent certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.  Mark 12.
4.  To seize in pursuit; hence simply to overtake; a popular use of the word.
He ran, but could not catch him companion.
5.  To take hold; to communicate to.
The fire caught the adjoining building.
6.  To seize the affections; to engage and attach to; as, to catch the fair.
7.  To take or receive by contagion or infection; as, to catch the measles or small pox.
8.  To snatch; to take suddenly; as, to catch a book out of the hand.
9.  To receive something passing.
The swelling sails no more catch the soft airs and wanton in the sky.  Trumbull.
To catch at, to endeavor to seize suddenly.
To catch at all opportunities of subverting the state.
To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.
CATCH, v.i.  
1.  To communicate; to spread by infecting; as, a disease will catch from man to man.
2.  Any thing that seizes or takes hold, as a hook.
3.  The posture of seizing; a state of preparation to catch, or of watching an opportunity to seize; as, to lie upon the catch.
4.  A sudden advantage taken.
5.  The thing caught, considered as an object of desire; profit; advantage.  
Hector shall have a great catch.  Shak.
6.  A snatch; a short interval of action.
It has been writ by catches.
7.  A little portion.
We retain a catch of a pretty story.
8.  In music, a fugue in the unison, wherein to humor some conceit in the words, the melody is broken, and the sense is interrupted in one part, and caught and supported by another, or a different sense is given to the words; or a piece for three or more voices, one of which leads and the others follow in the same notes.


Topic: Catch-word
Definition:
CATCH-WORD, n.  Among printers, the word placed at the bottom of each page, under the last line, which is to be inserted as the first word on the following page.


Topic: Catching
Definition:
CATCHING, ppr.  Seizing; taking hold; ensnaring; entangling.
CATCHING, a.  Communicating, or that may be communicated, by contagion; infectious; as, a disease is catching.


Topic: Catchpenny
Definition:
CATCHPENNY, n.  Something worthless, particularly a book or pamphlet, adapted to the popular taste, and intended to gain money in market.


Topic: Catechetical
Definition:
CATECHETICAL, a. [See Catechise.]  
1.  Relating to oral instruction, and particularly in the first principles of the Christian religion.
2.  Relating to or consisting in asking questions and receiving answers, according to the ancient manner of teaching pupils.
Socrates introduced a catechetical method of arguing.


Topic: Catechise
Definition:
CATECHISE, v.t.
1.  To instruct by asking questions, receiving answers, and offering explanations and corrections.
2.  To question; to interrogate; to examine or try by questions, and sometimes with a view to reproof, by eliciting answers from a person, which condemn his own conduct.
3.  Appropriately, to ask questions concerning the doctrines of the Christian religion; to interrogate pupils and give instruction in the principles of religion.


Topic: Catechiser
Definition:
CATECHISER, n.  One who catechises; one who instructs by question and answer, and particularly in the rudiments of the Christian religion.


Topic: Catechism
Definition:
CATECHISM, n.  
1.  A form of instruction by means of questions and answers, particularly in the principles of religion.
2.  An elementary book containing a summary of principles in any science or art, but appropriately in religion, reduced to the form of questions and answers, and sometimes with notes, explanations, and references to authorities.


Topic: Catechist
Definition:
CATECHIST, n.  One who instructs viva voice, or by question and answer; a catechiser; one appointed by the church to instruct in the principles of religion.


Topic: Catechu
Definition:
CATECHU, n.  Terra Japonica, a dry extract, or brown astringent substance, obtained by decoction and evaporation from a species of Mimosa in India.  It consists chiefly of tannin.


Topic: Catechumen
Definition:
CATECHUMEN, n.  One who is in the first rudiments of Christianity; one who is receiving instruction and preparing himself for baptism.  These were anciently the children of believing parents, or pagans not fully initiated in the principles of the Christian religion.  They were admitted to this state by the imposition of hands, and the sign of the cross.


Topic: Categorical
Definition:
CATEGORICAL, a.
1.  Pertaining to a category.
2.  Absolute; positive; express; not relative or hypothetical; as a categorical proposition, syllogism or answer.


Topic: Category
Definition:
CATEGORY, n.  In logic, a series or order of all the predicates or attributes contained under a genus.  The school philosophers distributed all the objects of our thoughts and ideas into genera or classes.  Aristotle made ten categories, viz. Substance, quantity, quality, relation, action, passion, time, place, situation and habit.


Topic: Catenation
Definition:
CATENATION, n.  Connection of links, union of parts, as in a chain; regular connection. [See Concatenation.]


Topic: Cater
Definition:
CATER, v.i.  To provide food; to buy or procure provisions; followed by for; as, to cater for the sparrow.
CATER, n.  A provider. [See Caterer.]
CATER, n.  The four of cards or dice; so written for Fr. quatre.


Topic: Caterpillar
Definition:
CATERPILLAR, n.  The colored and often hairy larva of the lepidopterous insects.  This term is also applied to the larvas of other insects, such as the Tenthredo, or saw-fly; but is more generally confined to the lepidopters.  Caterpillars are produced immediately from the egg; they are furnished with several pairs of feet, and have the shape and appearance of a worm.  They contain the embryo of the perfect insect, inclosed within a muscular envelop, which is thrown off, when the insect enters the nymph or chrysalis state, in which it remains for sometime as if inanimate.  It then throws off its last envelop, and emerges a perfect insect.  Caterpillars generally feed on leaves or succulent vegetables, and are sometimes very destructive.


Topic: Cathedral
Definition:
CATHEDRAL, n.  The see or seat of a bishop; the principal church in a diocese.
CATHEDRAL, a.  
1.  Pertaining to the church which is the bishops seat, or head church of a diocese; containing the see of a bishop; as a cathedral church; cathedral service.
2.  Resembling the aisles of a cathedral; as, cathedral walks.


Topic: Catheter
Definition:
CATHETER, n.  In surgery, a tubular instrument, usually made of silver, to be introduced into the bladder, to draw off the urine when the natural discharge is suppressed; also, a sound to search for the stone, or a bougie made of silver or elastic gum.


Topic: Cathetus
Definition:
CATHETUS n.  In geometry, a line or radius, falling perpendicularly on another line or surface; as the two sides of a right-angled triangle.
Cathetus of incidence, in catoptries, is a right line drawn from a point of the object, perpendicular to the reflecting line.
Cathetus of reflection, or of the eye, a right line drawn from the eye perpendicular to the reflecting plane.
Cathetus of obliquation, a right line drawn perpendicular to the speculum, in the point of incidence or reflection.
In architecture, a cathetus is a perpendicular line, supposed to pass through the middle of a cylindrical body.


Topic: Catholic
Definition:
CATHOLIC, a.  
1.  Universal or general; as the Catholic church.  Originally this epithet was given to the Christian church in general, but is now appropriated to the Romish church, and in strictness there is no Catholic church, or universal Christian communion.  The epithet is sometimes set in opposition to heretic, sectary or schismatic.
2.  Liberal; not narrow minded, partial or bigoted; as a catholic man.
3.  Liberal; as catholic principles.
Catholic epistles, the epistles of the apostles which are addressed to all the faithful, and not to a particular church.
CATHOLIC, n.  A papist.


Topic: Catholicon
Definition:
CATHOLICON, n.  A remedy for all diseases; a universal remedy; a remedy supposed to be efficacious in purging away all humors; a panacea; a kind of soft purgative electuary so called.


Topic: Catkin
Definition:
CATKIN, n.  In botany, a species of calyx or rather of inflorescence, from a common chaffy gemmaceous receptacle, or consisting of many chaffy scales ranged along a stalk, slender as a thread, which is the common receptacle, as in hazle, birch, oak, willow, poplar, &c.; so called from its resemblance to a cats tail.


Topic: Catling
Definition:
CATLING, n.  
1.  A dismembering knife, used by surgeons.
2.  The down or moss growing about walnut trees, resembling the hair of a cat.
3.  Catgut.


Topic: Catonian
Definition:
CATONIAN, a.  Pertaining to or resembling Cato, the Roman, who was remarkable for his severity of manners; grave; severe; inflexible.


Topic: Catoptrics
Definition:
CATOPTRICS, n.  That part of optics which explains the properties of reflected light, and particularly that which is reflected from mirrors or polished bodies.


Topic: Catoptromancy
Definition:
CATOPTROMANCY, n.  A species of divination among the ancients, which was performed by letting down a mirror into water, for a sick person to look at his face in it.  If his countenance appeared distorted and ghastly, it was an ill omen; if fresh and healthy, it was favorable.


Topic: Cats-eye
Definition:
CATS-EYE, n.  Sun-stone, a subspecies of quartz, called in Latin oculus cati or onycopalus, from its white zones or rings like onyx, and its variable colors like opal.  It is very hard and semitransparent, and from certain points exhibits a yellowish radiation, or chatoyant appearance, somewhat resembling a cats eye.


Topic: Cats-paw
Definition:
CATS-PAW, n.  
1.  Among seamen, a light air perceived, in a calm, by a rippling of the surface of the water; also, a particular turn in the bight of a rope, made to hook a tackle on.
2.  A dupe; the instrument which another uses.


Topic: Cattle
Definition:
CATTLE, n.  
1.  Beasts or quadrupeds in general, serving for tillage, or other labor, and for food to man.  In its primary sense, the word includes camels, horses, asses, all the varieties of domesticated horned beasts or the bovine genus, sheep of all kinds and goats, and perhaps swine.  In this general sense, it is constantly used in the scriptures.  See Job 1. 3.  Hence it would appear that the word properly signifies possessions, goods.  But whether from a word originally signifying a beast, for in early ages beasts constituted the chief part of a mans property, or from a root signifying to get or possess.  This word is restricted to domestic beasts; but in England it includes horses, which it ordinarily does not, in the United States, at least not in New-England.
2.  In the United States, cattle, in common usage, signifies only beasts of the bovine genus, oxen, bulls, cows and their young.  In the laws respecting domestic beasts, horses, sheep, asses, mules and swine are distinguished from cattle, or neat cattle.  Thus the law in Connecticut, requiring that all the owners of any cattle, sheep or swine, shall ear-mark or brand all their cattle, sheep and swine, does not extend to horses.  Yet it is probable that a law, giving damages for a trespass committed by cattle breaking into an inclosure, would be adjudged to include horses.
In Great Britain, beasts are distinguished into black cattle, including bulls, oxen, cows and their young; and small cattle, including sheep of all kinds and goats.
3.  In reproach, human beings are called cattle.


Topic: Caudle
Definition:
CAUDLE, n.  A kind of warm broth, a mixture of wine and other ingredients prepared for the sick.
CAUDLE, v.t.  To make or prepare caudle, or to dress with caudle.


Topic: Caul
Definition:
CAUL, n.  
1.  In anatomy, a membrane in the abdomen, covering the greatest part of the lower intestines, called from its structure, reticuluim, a net, but more generally, the omentum; also, a little membrane sometimes encompassing the head of a child when born.
2.  A kind of net in which females inclose their hair; the hinder part of a cap.
3.  Any kind of net.


Topic: Caulescent
Definition:
CAULESCENT, a.  In botany, having a stem different from that which produces the flower; as a caulescent plant.  Linne applies this term to the root also, as in cabbage and turnep.


Topic: Cauline
Definition:
CAULINE, a.  In botany, growing immediately on the stem, without the intervention of branches; as a cauline leaf, bulb, peduncle or scape.


Topic: Causal
Definition:
CAUSAL, a. [See Cause.] Relating to a cause or causes; implying or containing a cause or causes; expressing a cause.
Causal propositions are where two propositions are joined by causal words, as that or because.
CAUSAL, n.  In grammar, a word that expresses a cause, or introduces the reason.


Topic: Cause
Definition:
CAUSE, n. s as z.
1.  A suit or action in court; any legal process which a party institutes to obtain his demand, or by which he seeks his right or his supposed right.  This is a legal, scriptural and popular use of the word, coinciding nearly with case from cado, and action from ago, to urge or drive.
The cause of both parties shall come before the judges.  Ex. 22.
2.  That which produces an effect; that which impels into existence, or by its agency or operation produces what did not before exist; that by virtue of which any thing is done; that from which any thing proceeds, and without which it would not exist.
Cause is a substance exerting its power into act, to make a thing begin to be.
3.  The reason or motive that urges, moves, or impels the mind to act or decide.
For this cause have I raised up Pharaoh.  Ex. 9.
And David said, is there not a cause?  1 Sam. 17.
4.  Sake; account.
I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong.  2 Cor. 6. [See Sake.]
5.  That which a party or nation pursues; or rather pursuit, prosecution of an object.  We say, Bible Societies are engaged in a noble cause. [See the first definition.] Hence the word cause is used to denote that which a person or thing favors; that to which the efforts of an intelligent being are directed; as, to promote religion is to advance the cause of God.  So we say, the cause of truth or of justice.  In all its applications, cause retains something of its original meaning, struggle, impelling force, contest, effort to obtain or to effect something.
6.  Without cause, without good reason; without a reason or motive to justify the act.
They hate me without cause.  Ps. 35. 69.
CAUSE, v.t.
1.  To produce; to bring into existence.
They caused great joy to all the brethren.  Acts 15.
2.  To effect by agency, power or influence.
I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days.  Gen. 7.
I will cause him to fall by the sword.  2 Kings 19.
CAUSE, v.i.  To assign insufficient cause.


Topic: Causeless
Definition:
CAUSELESS, a. 
1.  Having no cause, or producing agent.
2.  Without just ground, reason or motive; as causeless hatred; causeless fear.  Prov. 26.


Topic: Causey
Definition:
CAUSEY, n.  A way raised above the natural level of the ground, by stones, earth, timber, fascines, &c., serving as a dry passage over wet or marshy ground, or as a mole to confine water to a pond or restrain it from overflowing lower ground.  Most generally it is a way raised in a common road.


Topic: Causticity
Definition:
CAUSTICITY, n.  The quality of acting like fire on animal matter, or the quality of combining with the principles of organized substances, and destroying their texture.  This quality belongs to concentrated acids, pure alkalis, and some metallic salts.


Topic: Cauterization
Definition:
CAUTERIZATION, n. [See Cauterize.] In surgery, the act of burning or searing some morbid part, by the application of fire.  This is done by burning tow, cotton, moxa, Spanish wax, pyramidical pieces of linen, &c., or more generally by a hot iron.


Topic: Cauterizing
Definition:
CAUTERIZING, ppr.  Burning, as with a hot iron.
CAUTERIZING, n.  The act of burning, as with a hot iron.


Topic: Cautery
Definition:
CAUTERY, n.  A burning or searing, as of morbid flesh, by a hot iron or by caustic medicines that burn, corrode or destroy any solid part of an animal body.  The burning by a hot iron is called actual cautery; that by caustic medicines, potential cautery.


Topic: Caution
Definition:
CAUTION, n.  
1.  Provident care; prudence in regard to danger; wariness, consisting in a careful attention to the probable effects of a measure, and a judicious course of conduct to avoid evils and the arts of designing men.
Caution is the armor to defend us against imposition and the attacks of evil.
2.  Security for, nearly the sense of the French caution, bail.
The parliament would give his majesty sufficient caution that the war should be prosecuted.
3.  Provision or security against; measures taken for security; as the rules and cautions of government.
4.  Precept; advice; injunction; warning; exhortation, intended as security or guard against evil.
CAUTION, v.t.  To give notice of danger; to warn; to exhort to take heed.
You cautioned me against their charms.


Topic: Cautionary
Definition:
CAUTIONARY, a.  
1.  Containing caution, or warning to avoid danger; as cautionary advice.
2.  Given as a pledge or in security; as a cautionary town.


Topic: Cautioner
Definition:
CAUTIONER, n.  In Scots law, the person who is bound for another, to the performance of an obligation.


Topic: Cautionry
Definition:
CAUTIONRY, n.  In Scots law, the act of giving security for another, or the obligation by which one person becomes engaged as security for another, that he shall pay a sum of money or perform a deed.


Topic: Cautious
Definition:
CAUTIOUS, a.  Wary; watchful; careful to avoid evils; attentive to examine probable effects and consequences of measures, with a view to avoid danger or misfortune; prudent; circumspect.


Topic: Cautiousness
Definition:
CAUTIOUSNESS, n.  The quality of being cautious; watchfulness; provident care; circumspection; prudence with regard to danger.


Topic: Cavalcade
Definition:
CAVALCADE, n.  A procession of persons on horseback; a formal, pompous march of horsemen and equipage, by way of parade, or to grace a triumph, the public entry of a person of distiction, &c.


Topic: Cavalier
Definition:
CAVALIER, n. 
1.  A horseman, especially an armed horseman; a knight.
2.  A gay, sprightly, military man.
3.  The appellation of the party of king Charles I.
4.  In fortification, an elevation of earth, situated ordinarily in the gorge of a bastion, bordered with a parapet, with embrasures.
5.  In the manege, one who understands horsemanship; one skilled in the art of riding.
CAVALIER, a.  
1.  Gay; sprightly; warlike; brave; generous.
2.  Haughty; disdainful.


Topic: Cavalry
Definition:
CAVALRY, n.  A body of military troops on horses; a general term, including light-horse, dragoons, and other bodies of men, serving on horseback.


Topic: Cavatina
Definition:
CAVATINA, n.  In music, a short air, without a return or second part, which is sometimes relieved by recitative.


Topic: Cavazion
Definition:
CAVAZION, n.  In architecture, the underdigging or hollowing of the earth for the foundation of a building, or for cellarage; allowed to be the sixth part of the highth of the building.


Topic: Cave
Definition:
CAVE, n.  A hollow place in the earth; a subterraneous cavern; a den.  This may be natural or artificial.  The primitive inhabitants of the earth, in many countries, lived in caves; and the present inhabitants of some parts of the earth, especially in the high northern latitudes, occupy caves, particularly in winter.
Lot dwelt in a cave, he and his daughters.  Gen. 19.
Caves were also used for the burial of the dead.
Abraham buried Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelab.  Gen. 23.
Bacon applies the word to the ear, the cave of the ear; but this application is unusual.
CAVE, v.t.  To make hollow.
CAVE, v.i.  To dwell in a cave.
To cave in, to fall in and leave a hollow, as earth on the side of a well or pit.  When in digging into the earth, the side is excavated by a falling of a quantity of earth, it is said to cave in.


Topic: Caveat
Definition:
CAVEAT, n.  
1.  In law, a process in a court, especially in a spiritual court, to stop proceedings, as to stop the proving of a will; also to prevent the institution of a clerk to a benefice.
In America, it is used in courts of common law.
2.  Intimation of caution; hint; warning; admonition.
CAVEAT, v.t.  To enter a caveat.


Topic: Caveating
Definition:
CAVEATING, n.  In fencing, is the shifting the sword from one side of that of your adversary to the other.


Topic: Cavern
Definition:
CAVERN, n.  A deep hollow place in the earth.  In general, it differs from cave in greater depth, and in being applied most usually to natural hollows, or chasms.
Earth with its caverns dark and deep.


Topic: Cavesson
Definition:
CAVESSON, n.  A sort of nose-band, of iron, leather or wood, sometimes flat, and sometimes hollow or twisted, which is put on the nose of a horse to wring it, and thus to forward the suppling and breaking of him.


Topic: Cavetto
Definition:
CAVETTO, n.  In architecture, a hollow member, or round concave molding, containing the quadrant of a circle; used as an ornament in cornices.


Topic: Cavil
Definition:
CAVIL, v.i.
1.  To raise captious and frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason; followed by at.
It is better to reason than to cavil.
2.  To advance futile objections, or to frame sophisms, for the sake of victory in an argument.
CAVIL, v.t.  To receive or treat with objections.
Wilt thou enjoy the good.  Then civil the conditions.
CAVIL, n.  False or frivolous objections; also, a fallacious kind of reason, bearing some resemblance to truth, advanced for the sake of victory.


Topic: Cavin
Definition:
CAVIN, n.  In the military art, a hollow way or natural hollow, adapted to cover troops and facilitate their approach to a place.


Topic: Cavity
Definition:
CAVITY, n.  A hollow place; hollowness; an opening; as the cavity of the mouth or throat.  This is a word of very general signification.


Topic: Cavolinite
Definition:
CAVOLINITE, n.  A newly discovered Vesuvain mineral, of a hexahedral form, occurring in the interior of calcarious balls, accompanied with garnets, idocrase, mica, and granular pyroxene, lining the cavity of the geode, &c.


Topic: Cawk
Definition:
CAWK, n.  A name given by miners to certain specimens of the compact sulphate of baryte.  These are of a white, gray or fawn color, often irregular in figure, but sometimes resembling a number of small convex lenses set in a ground.
This name is sometimes given to masses composed of concentric lamellar concretions.


Topic: Caxou
Definition:
CAXOU, n.  A chest of ores of any metal that has been burnt, ground and washed, and is ready to be refined.


Topic: Ccatholicism
Definition:
CCATHOLICISM, n.  
1.  Adherence to the Catholic church.
2.  Universality, or the orthodox faith of the whole church.
3.  More generally, liberality of sentiments.
This is the renowned seat of Catholicism.


Topic: Cease
Definition:
CEASE, v.i.  
1.  To stop moving, acting or speaking; to leave of; to give over; followed by from before a noun.  
It is an honor for a man to cease from strife.  Prov. 20.
2.  To fail; to be wanting.
The poor shall never cease out of the land.  Deut. 15.
3.  To stop; to be at an end; as, the wonder ceases; the storm has ceased.
4.  To be forgotten.
I would make the remembrance of them to cease.  Deut. 32.
5.  To abstain; as, cease from anger.  Ps. 37.
To cease from labor, is to rest; to cease from strife, is to be quiet; but in such phrases, the sense of cease is not varied.
CEASE, v.t.  To put a stop to; to put an end to.  Cease this impious rage. [But in this use the phrase is generally elliptical,]
CEASE, n.  Extinction.


Topic: Ceaseless
Definition:
CEASELESS, a.  
1.  Without a stop or pause; incessant; continual; without intermission.
All these with ceaseless praise his works behold.
2.  Endless; enduring for ever; as the ceaseless joys of heaven.


Topic: Cedar
Definition:
CEDAR, n.  A tree.  This name is given to different species of the juniper, and to a species of Pinus.  The latter is that which is mentioned in scripture.  It is an evergreen, grows to a great size, and is remarkable for its durability.


Topic: Cede
Definition:
CEDE, v.t.
1.  To yield; to surrender; to give up; to resign; as to cede a fortress, a province or country, by treaty.  This word is appropriately used to denote the relinquishment of a conquered city, fortress, or territory, to the former sovereign or proprietor.
2.  To relinquish and grant; as, to cede all claims to a disputed right or territory.
The people must cede to the government some of their natural rights.


Topic: Ceil
Definition:
CEIL, v.t.  To overlay or cover the inner roof of a building; or to cover the top or roof of a room.
And the greater house he ceiled with fir-tree.  2 Chron. 3.


Topic: Ceiling
Definition:
CEILING, ppr.  Covering the top of a room or building.
CEILING, n.  
1.  The covering which overlays the inner roof of a building, or the timbers which form the top of a room.  This covering may be of boards, or of lath and plastering.  Hence ceiling is used for the upper part of a room.
2.  In ship building, the inside planks of a ship.


Topic: Celandine
Definition:
CELANDINE, n.  A plant, swallow-wort, horned or prickly poppy, growing on old walls, among rubbish, and in waste places.  The lesser celandine is called pile-wort, a species of Ranunculus.  The name is also given to the Bocconia, a plant of the West Indies, called the greater tree-celandine.  The true orthography would be Chelidine.


Topic: Celebrate
Definition:
CELEBRATE, v.t.
1.  To praise; to extol; to commend; to give to; to make famous; as, to celebrate the name of the Most High.
The grave cannot celebrate thee.  Is. 38.
2.  To distinguish by solemn rites; to keep holy.
From even to even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.  Lev. 23.
3.  To honor or distinguish by ceremonies and marks of joy and respect; as, to celebrate the birth day of Washington; to celebrate a marriage.
4.  To mention in a solemn manner, whether of joy or sorrow.


Topic: Celebration
Definition:
CELEBRATION, n.  
1.  Solemn performance; a distinguishing by solemn rites; as the celebration of a marriage, or of a religious festival.
2.  A distinguishing by ceremonies, or by marks of joy or respect; as the celebration of a birth day, or other anniversary.
3.  Praise; renown; honor or distinction bestowed, whether by songs, eulogies, or rites and ceremonies.


Topic: Celebrity
Definition:
CELEBRITY, n.  
1.  Fame; renown; the distinction or honor publicly bestowed on a nation or person, on character or exploits; the distinction bestowed on whatever is great or remarkable, and manifested by praises or eulogies; as the celebrity of the duke of Wellington; the celebrity of Homer, or of the Iliad.
England acquired celebrity from the triumphs of Marlborough.
2.  Public and splendid transaction; as the celebrity of a marriage.  In this sense, as used by Bacon, we now use celebration.


Topic: Celerity
Definition:
CELERITY, n.  
1.  Rapidity in motion; swiftness; speed; applied most generally to bodies moving on or near the earth; as the celerity of horse or of a fowl.  We speak of the velocity of sound or of light, or of a planet in its orbit.  This distinction however is not general, nor can the different uses of the two words be precisely defined.  We apply celerity rather than velocity to thought; but there seems to be no reason, except usage, why the two words should not be synonymous.
2.  An affection of motion by which a movable body runs through a given space in a given time.


Topic: Celestial
Definition:
CELESTIAL, a.  
1.  Heavenly; belonging or relating to heaven; dwelling in heaven; as celestial spirits; celestial joys.  Hence the word conveys the idea of superior excellence, delight, purity, &c.
2.  Belonging to the upper regions, or visible heaven; as celestial signs; the celestial globe.
3.  Descending from heaven; as a suit of celestial armor.
CELESTIAL, n.  An inhabitant of heaven.


Topic: Celestins
Definition:
CELESTINS, n.  A religious order, so named from Pope Celestin.  They have ninety-six convents in Italy, and twenty-one in France.  They rise two hours after midnight to say matins.  They eat no flesh, except when sick, and fast often.  Their habit is a white gown, a capuche and a black scapulary.


Topic: Celibacy
Definition:
CELIBACY, n.  An unmarried state; a single life.  It is most frequently if not always applied to males, or to a voluntary single life.
They look on celibacy as an accursed state.


Topic: Celibate
Definition:
CELIBATE, n.  A single life; celibacy; chiefly used when speaking of the single life of the Popish clergy.


Topic: Cell
Definition:
CELL, n.
1.  A small or close apartment, as in a prison, or a bath.
2.  A cottage; a cave; a small or mean place of residence.
3.  A small cavity or hollow place, variously applied; as the cells of the brain; the cells of a honey comb, &c.
4.  In botany, a hollow place in a pericarp, particularly in a capsule, in which seeds are lodged.  According to the number of these cells, pericarps are called unilocular, bilocular, trilocular, &c.
5.  In anatomy, a little bag, or bladder, containing fluid or other matter; as the adipose cells, containing fat.
6.  A religious house.


Topic: Cellar
Definition:
CELLAR, n.  A room under a house or other building, used as a repository of liquors, provisions, and other stores for a family.


Topic: Cellarer
Definition:
CELLARIST, CELLARER, n.  An officer in a monastery who has the care of the cellar, or the charge of procuring and keeping the provisions; also, an officer in chapters, who has the care of the temporals, and particularly of distributing bread, wine, and money to canons, an account of their attendance in the choir.


Topic: Cellular
Definition:
CELLULAR, a.  Consisting of cells, or containing cells.
The cellular membrane, in animal bodies, is composed of an infinite number of minute cells, communicating with each other.  It invests every fiber, and seems to be the medium of connection between all parts of the body.  The cells serve as reservoirs for fat.


Topic: Celtiberian
Definition:
CELTIBERIAN, a.  Pertaining to Celtiberia, and its inhabitants, the Celtiberi, or Celts of the Iberus, a river in Spain.
CELTIBERIAN, n.  An inhabitant of Celtiberia.


Topic: Celtic
Definition:
CELTIC, a.  Pertaining to the primitive inhabitants of the South and West of Europe, or to the early inhabitants of Italy, Gaul, Spain and Britain.  We say, Celtic nations; Celtic customs; Celtic origin.
CELTIC, n.  The language of the Celts.


Topic: Celtis
Definition:
CELTIS, n.  The nettle-tree, of several species; among which are the australis or southern, a native of Africa and the South of Europe; the oriental, growing an Armenia and Taurica; and the western, growing in Virginia.


Topic: Cement
Definition:
CEMENT, n.  
1.  Any glutinous or other substance capable of uniting bodies in close cohesion, as mortar, glue, soder, &c.  In building, cement denotes a stronger kind of mortar than that which is ordinarily used.  
2.  Bond of union; that which unites firmly, as persons in friendship, or men in society.
3.  Powders or pastes, surrounding bodies in pots and crucibles, for chimical purposes.
CEMENT, v.t.  To unite by the application of glutinous substances, by mortar which hardens, or other matter that produces cohesion of bodies.
2.  To unite firmly or closely; as, to cement all parts of the community; to cement friendship.
CEMENT, v.t.  To unite or become solid; to unite and cohere.


Topic: Cementation
Definition:
CEMENTATION, n.  
1.  The act of cementing; the act of uniting by a suitable substance.
2.  In chimistry, the act of applying cements to substances, or the corroding and changing of them by cement.  This is done by surrounding them with the powder of another body, and exposing them, in a close vessel, to a heat not sufficient to fuse them.


Topic: Cency
Definition:
REJUVENES'CENCE,'CENCY, n.  [L. re and juvenescens; juvenis, a youth.]
A renewing of youth; the state of being young again.


Topic: Cenobite
Definition:
CENOBITE, n.  One of a religious order, who live in a convent, or in community; in opposition to an anchoret, or hermit, who lives in solitude.


Topic: Cenotaph
Definition:
CENOTAPH, n.  An empty tomb erected in honor of some deceased person; a monument erected to one who is buried elsewhere.


Topic: Cense
Definition:
CENSE, n.  
1.  A public rate or tax.
2.  Condition; rank.
CENSE, v.t.  To perfume with odors from burning substances.


Topic: Censer
Definition:
CENSER, n.  A vase or pan in which incense is burned.  Among the Jews, a kind of chafing-dish, covered by a dome, and suspended by a chain, used to offer perfumes in sacrifices.


Topic: Censor
Definition:
CENSOR, n. 
1.  An officer, in ancient Rome, whose business was to register the effects of the citizens, to impose taxes according to the property which each man possessed, and to inspect the manners of the citizens, with power to censure vice and immorality, by inflicting a public mark of ignominy on the offender.
2.  One who is empowered to examine all manuscripts and books, before they are committed to the press, and to see that they contain nothing heretical or immoral.
3.  One who is given to censure.


Topic: Censorious
Definition:
CENSORIOUS, a.  
1.  Addicted to censure; apt to blame or condemn; severe in making remarks on others, or on their writings or manners; often implying ill-nature, illiberality, or uncharitableness; as a censorious critic.
2.  Implying or expressing censure; as, censorious remarks.


Topic: Censoriousness
Definition:
CENSORIOUSNESS, n.  
1.  Disposition to blame and condemn; the habit o censuring or reproaching.
2.  The quality of being censorious.


Topic: Censurable
Definition:
CENSURABLE, a. [See Censure.] Worthy of censure; blamable; culpable; reprehensibly; faulty; as a censurable person, or censurable conduct or writings.


Topic: Censure
Definition:
CENSURE, n.
1.  The act of blaming or finding fault and condemning as wrong; applicable to the moral conduct, or to the works of men.  When applied to persons, it is nearly equivalent to blame, reproof, reprehension, reprimand.  It is an expression of disapprobation, which often implies reproof.
2.  Judicial sentence; judgment that condemns.  An ecclesiastical censure is a sentence of condemnation, or penalty inflicted on a member of a church for mal-conduct, by which he is deprived of the communion of the church, or prohibited from executing the sacerdotal office.
CENSURE, v.t.  
1.  To find fault with and condemn as wrong; to blame; to express disapprobation of; as, to censure a man, or his manners, or his writings.
We laugh at vanity, oftener than we censure pride.
2.  To condemn by a judicial sentence, as in ecclesiastical affairs.
3.  To estimate.
CENSURE, v.i.  To judge.


Topic: Census
Definition:
CENSUS, n.
1.  In ancient Rome, an authentic declaration made before the censors, by the citizens, of their names and places of abode.  This declaration was registered, and contained an enumeration of all their lands and estates, their quantity and quality, with the wives, children, domestics, tenants, and slaves of each citizen.  Hence the word signifies this enumeration or register, a mans whole substance, and the tax imposed according to each mans property.
2.  In the United States of America, an-enumeration of the inhabitants of all the States, taken by order of the Congress, to furnish the rule of apportioning the representation among the States, and the number of representatives to which each State is entitled in the Congress; also, an enumeration of the inhabitants of a State, taken by order of its legislature.


Topic: Cent
Definition:
CENT, n.  
1.  A hundred.  In commerce, per cent, denotes a certain rate by the hundred; as, ten per cent.  Is ten in the hundred, whether profit or loss.  This rate is called percentage.
2.  In the United States of America, a copper coin whose value is the hundredth part of a dollar.


Topic: Centaur
Definition:
CENTAUR, n.  
1.  In mythology, a fabulous being, supposed to be half man and half horse.  It has been supposed that this fancied monster originated among the Lapithae, a tribe in Thessaly, who first invented the art of breaking horses.  But the origin of the fable and of the name is doubtful.
2.  Part of a southern constellation, in form of a centaur, usually joined with the wolf, containing thirty-five stars; the archer.


Topic: Centaury
Definition:
CENTAURY, n.  The name of a plant, and a genus of plants, of numerous species.  The lesser centaury is a species of Gentiana.  Centaury bears the popular names of knapweed, bluebottle, sultan, and star-thistle.


Topic: Centenary
Definition:
CENTENARY, n.  The number of a hundred; as a centenary of years.
CENTENARY, a.  Relating to a hundred; consisting of a hundred.


Topic: Centennial
Definition:
CENTENNIAL, a.  
1.  Consisting of a hundred yeas, or completing that term.
2.  Pertaining to a hundred years.
3.  Happening every hundred years.


Topic: Center
Definition:
CENTER, n.  
1.  A point equally distant from the extremities of a line, figure or body; the middle point or place.
2.  The middle or central object.  In an army, the body of troops occupying the place in the line between the wings.  In a fleet, the division between the van and rear of the line of battle, and between the weather division and lee, in the order of sailing.
3.  A single body or house.
These institutions collected all authority into one center, kings, nobles and people.
Center of gravity, in mechanics, the point about which all the parts of a body exactly balance each other.
Center o motion, the point which remains at rest, while all the other parts of a body move round it.
CENTER, v.t.  
1.  To place on a center; to fix on a central point.
2.  To collect to a point.
Thy joys are centered all in me alone.
CENTER, v.i.  
1.  To be collected to a point.
Our hopes must center on ourselves alone.
2.  To be collected to a point; to rest on.
3.  To be placed in the middle.


Topic: Centesimal
Definition:
CENTESIMAL, a.  The hundredth.  As a noun, the next step of progression after decimal in the arithmetic of fractions.


Topic: Centesimation
Definition:
CENTESIMATION, n.  A military punishment, for desertion, mutiny or the like, where one person in a hundred is selected for execution.


Topic: Centigrade
Definition:
CENTIGRADE, a.  Consisting of a hundred degrees; graduated into a hundred divisions or equal parts; as a centigrade thermometer.


Topic: Centimeter
Definition:
CENTIMETER, n.  In French measure, the hundredth part of a meter, rather more than 39-100 of an inch.  English measure.


Topic: Centiped
Definition:
CENTIPED, n.  An insect having a hundred feet, but the term is applied to insects that have many feet, though not a hundred.  Insects of this kind are called generically Scolopendra.  In warm climates, some of them grow to the length of six inches or more, and their bite is poisonous.


Topic: Centner
Definition:
CENTNER, n.  In metallurgy and assaying, a docimastic hundred; a weight divisible first into a hundred parts, and then into smaller parts.  The metallurgists use a weight divided into a hundred equal parts, each one pound; the whole they call a centner; the pound is divided into thirty-two parts or half ounces; the half ounce into two quarters, and each of these into two drams.  But the assayers use different weights.  With them a centner is one dram, to which the other parts are proportioned.


Topic: Central
Definition:
CENTRAL, a.  Relating to the center; placed in the center or middle; containing the center, or pertaining to the parts near the center.
Central forces, in mechanics, the powers which cause a moving body to tend towards or recede from the center of motion.


Topic: Centrifugal
Definition:
CENTRIFUGAL, a.  Tending to recede from the center.  The centrifugal force of a body, is that force by which all bodies moving round another body in a curve, tend to fly off from the axis of their motion, in a tangent to the periphery of the curve.


Topic: Centripetal
Definition:
CENTRIPETAL, a.  Tending towards the center.  Centripetal force is that force which draws or impels a body towards some point as a center; as in case of a planet revolving round the sun, the center of the system. [Note: The common accentuation of centrifugal and centripetal is artificial and harsh.  The accent on the first and third syllables, as in circumpolar, would be natural and easy.]


Topic: Centumvir
Definition:
CENTUMVIR, n.  One of a hundred and five judges, in ancient Rome, appointed to decide common causes among the people.


Topic: Centurial
Definition:
CENTURIAL, a.  Relating to a century, or a hundred years; as a chanterelle sermon.
When the third chanterelle jubilee of New-England shall come, who of us will then be living to participate he general joy?


Topic: Centurist
Definition:
CENTURIST, n.  A historian who distinguishes time into centuries; as in the Universal Church History of Magdeburg.


Topic: Century
Definition:
CENTURY, n.  
1.  In a general sense, a hundred; any thing consisting of a hundred parts.
2.  A division of the Roman people for the purpose of electing magistrates and enacting laws, the people voting by centuries; also, a company consisting of a hundred men.
3.  A period of a hundred years.  This is the most common signification of the word; and as we begin our modern computation of time from the incarnation of Christ, the word is generally applied to some term of a hundred years subsequent to that event; as the fist or second century, or the tenth century.  If we intend to apply the word to a different era, we use an explanatory adjunct; as the third century before the Christian era, or after the reign of Cyrus.
4.  The Centuries of Magdeburg, a title given to an ecclesiastical history, arranged in 13 centuries, compiled by a great number of Protestants at Magdeburg.


Topic: Cephalic
Definition:
CEPHALIC, a.  Pertaining to the head; as cephalic medicines, remedies for disorders in the head.  The cephalic vein, which runs along the arm, was so named because the ancients used to open it for disorders of the head.
CEPHALIC, n.  A medicine for headache or other disorder in the head.


Topic: Cerastes
Definition:
CERASTES, n.  In zoology, the name of a serpent, of the genus Coluber, which the ancients supposed to have horns.


Topic: Cerate
Definition:
CERATE, n.  A thick kind of ointment, composed of wax and oil, with other ingredients; applied externally in various diseases.


Topic: Cere
Definition:
CERE, n.  The naked skin that covers the base of a hawks bill.
CERE, v.t.  To wax or cover with wax.


Topic: Cerecloth
Definition:
CERECLOTH, n.  A cloth smeared with melted wax, or with some gummy or glutinous matter.  [But the English word for a cloth used to cover wounds is sear-cloth.]


Topic: Ceremonial
Definition:
CEREMONIAL, a. [See Ceremony.]
1.  Relating to ceremony, or external rite; ritual; according to the forms of established rites; as ceremonial exactness.  It is particularly applied to the forms and rites of the Jewish religion; as the ceremonial law or worship, as distinguished from the moral and judicial law.
2.  Formal; observant of old forms; exact; precise in manners.
[In this sense, ceremonious is now used.]
CEREMONIAL, n.  
1.  Outward form; external rite, or established forms or rites, including all the forms prescribed; a system of rules and ceremonies, enjoined by law or established by custom, whether in religious worship, in social intercourse, or in the courts of princes.
2.  The order for rites and forms in the Romish church, or the book containing the rules prescribed to be observed on solemn occasions.


Topic: Ceremonially
Definition:
CEREMONIALLY, adv. According to rites and ceremonies; as a person ceremonially unclean; an act ceremonially unlawful.


Topic: Ceremonious
Definition:
CEREMONIOUS, a.  
1. Consisting of outward forms and rites; as the ceremonious part of worship.  [In this sense, ceremonial is now used.]
2. Full of ceremony or solemn forms.
3.  According to the rules and forms prescribed or customary; civil; formally respectful. Ceremonious phrases.
4.  Formal; according to the rules of civility; as, to take a ceremonious leave.
5.  Formal; exact; precise; too observant of forms.


Topic: Ceremoniousness
Definition:
CEREMONIOUSNESS, n.  The use of customary forms; the practice of too much ceremony; great formality in manners.


Topic: Ceremony
Definition:
CEREMONY, n.
1.  Outward rite; external form in religion.
2.  Forms of civility; rules established by custom for regulating social intercourse.
3.  Outward forms of state; the forms prescribed or established by order or custom, serving for the purpose of civility or magnificence, as in levees of princes, the reception of ambassadors, &c.
Master of ceremonies, an officer who superintends the reception of ambassadors.  A person who regulates the forms to be observed by the company or attendants on a public occasion.


Topic: Cereolite
Definition:
CEREOLITE, n.  A substance which in appearance and softness resembles wax; sometimes confounded with steatite.


Topic: Ceres
Definition:
CERES, n.  
1.  In mythology, the inventor or goddess of corn, or rather the name of corn deified.
2.  The name of a planet discovered by M. Piozzi, at Palermo in Sicily, in 1801.


Topic: Cerin
Definition:
CERIN, n.  
1.  A peculiar substance which precipitates on evaporation, from alcohol, which has been digested on grated cork.
2.  The part of common wax which dissolves in alcohol.
3.  A variety of the mineral allanite.


Topic: Cerinthians
Definition:
CERINTHIANS, n.  A set of heretics, so called from Cerinthus, one of the first heresiarchs in the church.  They denied the divinity of Christ, but they held that, in his baptism, a celestial virtue descended on him in the form of a dove, by means of which he was consecrated by the Holy Spirit and made Christ.


Topic: Cerite
Definition:
CERITE, n. [See Cerium.] 
1.  The siliceous oxyd of Cerium, a rare mineral of a pale rose red color, with a tinge of yellow.
2.  A fossil shell.


Topic: Cerium
Definition:
CERIUM, n.  A metal recently discovered in Sweden, in the mineral cerate, and so called rom the planet Ceres.  It is of great specific gravity.  Its color a grayish white and its texture lamellar.


Topic: Certain
Definition:
CERTAIN, a.
1.  Sure; true; undoubted; unquestionable; that cannot be denied; existing in fact and truth.
The dream is certain and the interpretation sure.  Dan. 2.
2.  Assured in mind; having no doubts; followed by of, before a noun.
However I with thee have fixed my lot,
Certain to undergo like doom of death,
Consort with thee.
To make her certain of the sad event.
3.  Unfailing; always producing the intended effect; as, we may have a certain remedy for a disease.
4.  Not doubtful or casual; really existing.
Virtue that directs our ways
Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
5.  Stated; fixed; determinate; regular.
Ye shall gather a certain rate every day.  Ex. 16.
6.  Particular.
There came a certain poor widow.  Mark 12.
In the plural number, a particular part or number; some; an indefinite part, number, or quantity.  Hanani came, he and certain men of Judah.  I mourned certain days.  Neh. 1. 2. 6.
In the latter sense, it is used as a noun; as, certain also of your own poets have said.  Acts 17.


Topic: Certainly
Definition:
CERTAINLY, adv.  
1.  Without doubt or question; in truth and fact.
Certainly this was a righteous man.  Luke 23.
2.  Without failure.
He said, I will certainly return to thee.  Gen. 18.


Topic: Certainty
Definition:
CERTAINTY, n.  
1.  A fixed or real state; truth; fact.
Know for a certainty, that the Lord your God will no more drive out these nations.  Josh. 23.  Luke 1.
2.  Full assurance of mind; exemption from doubt.
Certainty is the perception of the agreement or disagreement of our ideas.
3.  Exemption from failure; as the certainty of an event, or of the success of a medicine.
The certainty of punishment is the truest security against crimes.
4.  Regularity; settled state.


Topic: Certificate
Definition:
CERTIFICATE, n. [See Certify.]
1.  In a general sense, a written testimony not sworn to; a declaration in writing, signed by the party, and intended to verify a fact.
2.  In a more particular sense, the written declaration, under the hand or seal or both, of some public officer, to be used as evidence in a court, or to substantiate a fact.  A certificate of this kind may be considered as given under the oath of office.
3.  Trial by certificate, is where the evidence of the person certifying is the only proper criterion of the point in dispute as when the issue is whether a person was absent in the army, this is tried by the certificate of the Mareschall of the army, in writing under his seal.
CERTIFICATE, v.t. or i.t. 
1.  To give a certificate; to lodge a certificate with the proper officer, for the purpose of being exempted from the payment of taxes to support the ministry, in a parish or ecclesiastical society.
2.  To give a certificate to, acknowledging one to be a parishioner.
But such certificated person can gain no settlement.


Topic: Certify
Definition:
CERTIFY, v.t.
1.  To testify to in writing; to make a declaration in writing, under hand, or hand and seal, to make known or establish a fac.
The judges shall certify their opinion to the chancellor, and upon such certificate, the decree is usually founded.
The Judge shall certify under his hand, that the freehold came chiefly in question.
2.  To give certain information to; applied to persons.
We have sent and certified the king.  Ezra 4.
3.  To give certain information of; applied to things.
This is designed to certify those things that are confirmed of Gods favor.
It is followed by of, after the person, and before the thing told; as, I certified you of the fact.


Topic: Certifying
Definition:
CERTIFYING, ppr.  Giving a written testimony, or certificate; giving certain notice; making certainly known.


Topic: Certiorari
Definition:
CERTIORARI, n.  A writ issuing out of Chancery, Kings Bench or other superior court, to call up the records of an inferior court, or remove a cause there depending, that it may be tried in the superior court.  This writ is obtained upon complaint of a party, that he has not received justice, or that he cannot have an impartial trial, in the inferior court.


Topic: Ceruse
Definition:
CERUSE, n.  White-lead; a carbonate of lead, produced by exposing the metal in thin plates to the vapor of vinegar.  Lead is sometimes found native in the form of ceruse.
Ceruse of antimony is a white oxyd of antimony, which separates from the water in which diaphoretic antimony has been washed.


Topic: Cesarean
Definition:
CESAREAN, a.  The Cesarean operation is the taking of a child from the womb by cutting; an operation, which, it is said, gave name to Caesar, the Roman emperor.


Topic: Cespitous
Definition:
CESPITOUS, a.  Pertaining to turf; turfy.
A cespitous or turfy plant, has many stems from the same root, usually forming a close thick carpet or matting.


Topic: Cess
Definition:
CESS, as a noun, a rate or tax, and as a verb, to rate or lay a tax, is probably a corruption of assess, or from the same root.
CESS, v.i.  To neglect a legal duty.


Topic: Cessation
Definition:
CESSATION, n.
1.  A ceasing; a stop; a rest; the act of discontinuing motion or action of any kind, whether temporary or final.
2.  A ceasing or suspension of operation, force or effect; as a cessation of the laws of nature.
A cessation of arms, an armistice or truce, agreed to by the commanders of armies, to give time for a capitulation, or for other purposes.


Topic: Cessavit
Definition:
CESSAVIT, n.  In law, a writ given by statute, to recover lands, when the tenant or occupier has ceased for two years to perform the service, which constitutes the condition of his tenure, and has not sufficient goods or chattels to be distrained, or the tenant has so inclosed the land that the lord cannot come upon it to distrain.


Topic: Cesser
Definition:
CESSER, n. [See Cess.] A ceasing; a neglect to perform services or payment for two years.  See Cessavit.]


Topic: Cession
Definition:
CESSION, n.
1.  The act of giving way; a yielding to force or impulse.
2.  A yielding, or surrender, as of property or rights, to another person; particularly, a surrender of conquered territory to its former proprietor or sovereign, by treaty.
3.  In the civil law, a voluntary surrender of a persons effects to his creditors, to avoid imprisonment.
4.  In ecclesiastical law, the leaving of a benefice without dispensation or being otherwise qualified.  When an ecclesiastical person is created a bishop, or when the parson of a parish takes another benefice, without dispensation, the benefices are void by cession, without resignation.


Topic: Cessor
Definition:
CESSOR, n.  
1.  In law, he that neglects, for two years, to perform the service by which he holds lands, so that he incurs the danger of the writ of cessavit. [See Cessavit.]
2.  An assessor, or taxer.


Topic: Cesure
Definition:
CESURE, n.  A pause in verse, so introduced as to aid the recital, and render the versification more melodious.  It divides a verse or line into equal or unequal parts.  Its most pleasing effect is produced, when it is placed at the end of the second foot, or in the middle, or at the end of the third foot.


Topic: Cetaceous
Definition:
CETACEOUS, a.  Pertaining to the whale; belonging to the whale kind.  The cetacceous fishes include the genera monodon, balaena, physeter and delphinus.  They have no gills, but an aperture on the top of the head, and a flat or horizontal tail.


Topic: Cetic
Definition:
CETIC, a.  Pertaining to the whale.  The cetic acid is a peculiar substance obtained from the spermaceti.


Topic: Cetus
Definition:
CETUS, n.  In astronomy, the whale, a large constellation of the Southern hemisphere, containing ninety-seven stars.


Topic: Ceylanite
Definition:
CEYLANITE, n.  A mineral, classed with the ruby family; called also pleonaste.  Its color is a muddy, dark blue, and grayish black, approaching to iron black.  It occurs in grains, or small crystals, either perfect octahedrons, or truncated on the edges, or with the angles acuminated by four planes.  It occurs also in rhomboidal dodecahedrons.


Topic: Chafe
Definition:
CHAFE, v.t.
1.  To excite heat or inflammation by friction, as to chafe the skin; also, to fret and wear by rubbing, as to chafe a cable.
2.  To act violently upon, by rubbing; to fret against, as waves against a shore.
The troubled Tyber chafing with his shores.
3.  To be fretted and worn by rubbing; as, a cable chafes.
CHAFE, n.  
1.  Heat, excited by friction.
2.  Violent agitation of the mind or passions; heat; fret; passion.


Topic: Chafe-wax
Definition:
CHAFE-WAX, n.  In England, an officer belonging to the Lord Chancellor, who fits the wax for the sealing of writs.


Topic: Chafery
Definition:
CHAFERY, n.  In Iron works, a forge in which an ancony or square mass of iron, hammered into a bar in the middle, with its ends rough, is reduced to a complete bar, by hammering down the ends to the shape of the middle.


Topic: Chaff
Definition:
CHAFF, n.
1.  The husk, or dry calyx of corn, and grasses.  In common language, the word is applied to the husks when separated from the corn by thrashing, riddling or winnowing.  The word is sometimes used rather improperly to denote straw cut small for the food of cattle.
2.  Refuse; worthless matter; especially that which is light, and apt to be driven by the wind.  In scripture, false doctrines, fruitless designs, hypocrites and ungodly men are compared to chaff.  Ps. 1:4;  Jer. 23:28;  Is. 33:11; Mat. 3:12.


Topic: Chaffer
Definition:
CHAFFER, v.i.  To treat about a purchase; to bargain; to haggle; to negotiate; to chop and change; as, to chaffer for preferments.
CHAFFER, v.t.  To buy; to exchange.
CHAFFER, n.  One who chaffers; a bargainer; a buyer.


Topic: Chaffinch
Definition:
CHAFFINCH, n.  A species of birds of the genus Fringilla, which are said to delight in chaff, and are admired for their song.


Topic: Chaffweed
Definition:
CHAFFWEED, n.  A plant, cud-weed, a species of Gnaphalium; but this name is given also to the Centunculus.


Topic: Chafing-dish
Definition:
CHAFING-DISH, n.  A dish or vessel to hold coals for heating any thing set on it; a portable grate for coals.


Topic: Chagrin
Definition:
CHAGRIN, n.  Ill-humor; vexation; peevishness; fretfulness.
CHAGRIN, v.t.  To excite ill-humor in; to vex; to mortify.


Topic: Chain
Definition:
CHAIN, n.
1.  A series of links or rings connected, or fitted into one another, usually made of some kind of metal, as a chain of gold, or of iron; but the word is not restricted to any particular kind of material.  It is used often for an ornament about the person.
2.  That which binds; a real chain; that which restrains, confines, or fetters; a bond.
If God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them into chains of darkness.  2 Peter 2.
3.  Bondage; affliction.
He hath made my chain heavy.  Lam. 3.
4.  Bondage; slavery.
In despotism the people sleep soundly in their chains.
5.  Ornament.  Prov. 1:9.
6.  A series of things linked together; a series of things connected or following in succession; as a chain of causes, of ideas, or events; a chain of being.
7.  A range, or line of things connected, as a chain of mountains.
8.  A series of links, forming an instrument to measure land.
9.  A string of twisted wire, or something similar, to hang a watch on, and for other purposes.
10.  In France, a measure of wood for fuel, and various commodities, of various length.
11.  In ship-building, chains are strong links or plates of iron, bolted at the lower end to the ships side, used to contain the blocks called dead eyes, by which the shrouds of the mast are extended.
12.  The warp in weaving, as in French.
Chain-;ump.  This consists of a long chain, equipped with a sufficient number of valves, moving on two wheels, one above the other below, passing downward through a wooden tube and returning through another.  It is managed by a long winch, on which several men may be employed at once.
Chain-shot, two balls connected by a chain, and used to cut down masts, or cut away shrouds and rigging.
Chain-wales of a ship, broad and thick planks projecting from a ships side, abreast of and behind the masts, for the purpose of extending the shrouds, for better supporting the masts, and preventing the shrouds from damaging the gunwale.
Chain-work, work consisting of threads, cords and the like, linked together in the form of a chain; as lineal chaining or tambour work, reticulation or net work, &c.
Top-chain, on board a ship, a chain to sling the sail-yards in time of battle, to prevent their falling, when the ropes that support them are shot away.
CHAIN, v.t.
1.  To fasten, bind or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind with any thing in the manner of a chain.
2.  To enslave; to keep in slavery.
And which more blest?  Who chaind his country, say
Or he whose virtue sighed to lose a day?
3.  To guard with a chain, as a harbor or passage.
4.  To unite; to form chain-work.


